Wanted
by Annabelle Graceton
Summary: AU Western Klaine. Kurt Hummel, son of Governor Hummel, is on his way to visit his father when his train is raided by bandits. What happens when they discover who he is? And how much is Burt willing to pay to get him back? Or, after meeting a dazzling golden-eyed man, will Kurt even want to go back?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Welcome to my new story! And a very Happy Birthday to my man, Darren Everett Criss! :D I've been working on this story for a little while now and I thought that it would be an appropriate time to post it :-p I hope that you like it! If you want more, please subscribe and favourite and leave me a comment letting me know what you think! :-p**  
_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee (though I wish I did). I do own this storyline.  
**_

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Chapter One

Kurt Hummel sighed as he stared out the window, watching the nonexistent scenery pass by. No matter which direction he looked, all Kurt could see was dry, barren land.

"We're about to pass through the old Westerville territory," a voice commented from beside him. Kurt turned away from the window to look at the man sitting beside him.

"Oh?" he replied, trying to sound interested. Kurt would take any excuse for a distraction from his boredom. "Is that so, Sam?"

The tall blond nodded, a smile spreading across his lips that were slightly larger than normal and were often compared to that of a fish.

"Before the town of Dalton went bankrupt, this area used to be very populated," Sam explained eagerly, happy to have someone to listen to his tales. "Now it's become the land of the thieves, bandits, and outlaws."

"Which is why we need to be on high alert passing through here," another voice added. A tall, darkly tanned man dropped down into the seat across from Kurt. A thick, black mohawk ran down the back of his head, making him look very intimidating, which was perfect, considering what his occupation was.

"Aww, lay off, Puck!" Sam sighed. "They hardly ever hit the trains, so Kurt is perfectly safe!"

Kurt sighed as he watched the two bicker. Sam Evans and Noah Puckerman, better known as Puck, were his bodyguards, hired to escort him on his way to Lima to visit his father, Burt Hummel, who just so happened to be the Governor. Kurt hadn't wanted the "babysitters", but his father had insisted, worried for Kurt's safety because of the fact that he was the Governor's son.

"And I'm telling you, they won't hit the train!" Sam exclaimed suddenly, drawing Kurt's attention back to them. "It's too high risk! And why hit a train where you could end up with hardly anything when you can rob a bank and be assured that you're going to come out with your hands full?"

"If they knew that someone influential or important like Kurt was on the train, then yes, they definitely would take that risk!" Puck argued, his voice rising slightly. Sam quickly hushed him, glancing around to see if anyone had heard him. Kurt quickly glanced around as well, catching a couple of slightly annoyed glances in his direction, but nothing in their eyes gave away that they knew who he was. With a smile, Kurt turned his eyes away from the other passengers and back on his companions, greatly relieved.

Though Kurt's name was recognizable, he himself was not. Not many people actually knew what Kurt looked like, which helped him to blend in in normal circumstances. But right now, surrounded by two buff, gun-carrying men, there was a higher chance that someone could notice him. After all, only important people needed bodyguards, so why would this skinny, pale boy need them?

Kurt sighed as he ran his fingers along his pale coloured arm. Though the sun blazed down on him every day, he never seemed to darken or tan at all. Then again, Kurt didn't spend all that much time outdoors anyway. He usually spent his time inside, either sewing new outfits or practicing a new song so that he could show up his best friend and rival, Miss Rachel Barbra Berry, at their weekly tavern sing-off.

"How much longer until we get there?" Kurt asked, looking back out the window. Though he loved visiting his father, Kurt didn't make this trip very often as his father was usually busy, being the Governor and all, and Kurt had his own life and responsibilities to attend to.

"We've still got quite a ways to go," Sam replied, giving him an apologetic smile. "We're only about half way there. It could still be another couple of hours before we get there."

"Alright," Kurt sighed, standing suddenly. "I think I want to go for a little walk." Sam stood as well at his statement.

"_Alone_," Kurt continued, narrowing his eyes at his companion.

"Sorry," Sam shrugged. "One of us has to be with you at all times. It's part of the agreement."

"Fine," Kurt huffed, moving past Sam and heading towards the back of the cart. Kurt was sure that he had seen a bar on their way in and he could definitely use a drink right now. Kurt stopped at the door, waiting for Sam to catch up, which didn't take long.

"What, does Puck not want to come?" Kurt smirked, glancing back at the other man who was still sitting.

"Someone has to stay with your stuff," Sam replied. "We wouldn't want anyone rooting through your bags while we're gone, now would we?"

"No," Kurt sighed, turning back to the door and quickly passing through it, his tail quickly following behind him. They had to pass through three carts until they finally found the bar.

"One on the rocks, please," Kurt said, sliding onto one of the stools. Sam slid onto the stool beside him, politely declining a drink from the pretty blonde behind the bar.

"What, nothing for you, _Trouty Mouth_?" a sassy voice remarked. A deeply tanned Latina slid onto the bar stool beside Sam, quickly ordering a drink from the girl, whom she seemed to affectionately refer to as Brit.

"It's a long train ride and you're not going to have anything?" the girl continued, her dark eyes flashing over Sam seductively. "Unless you're wanting something else?" She gave him a little wink as she moved her body closer to his.

"I, uh, um, no, I-" Sam stuttered, getting quite flustered. "I-I'm on the job right now. No drinking for me... or anything _else_." The last part sounded forced, almost as if he regretted having to say it, which Kurt couldn't blame him for. The sassy brunette was gorgeous, though totally not Kurt's type. No, Kurt's tastes were _A LOT_ different.

"Are you a unicorn?" the pretty blonde, Brit, asked Sam innocently.

"A what?" Sam asked, turning his gaze to her. "A unicorn? How does that even-"

"She's asking if you're gay," the brunette remarked casually, accepting her drink from the other girl. "So, are you? I'm assuming yes because otherwise we'd be making out in the bathroom back there right now."

"I'm not gay!" Sam replied sharply, though he immediately turned to Kurt after and mumbled, "Sorry." Kurt just shrugged. He was used to people not accepting the fact that yes, he was gay. He had known that he was practically all of his life, only truly admitting it, to himself and his dad, when he was about fifteen, almost six years ago.

"So you're gay then?" the brunette commented rather than asked, picking up on their short exchange.

"Yes," Kurt replied sharply. "Do you have a problem with that?" The blonde was the one to respond.

"Nope," she grinned, bouncing on her toes. "Cause me and Santana are unicorns too!" Kurt couldn't help but smile at the girl's giddiness. She looked like she could have been about the same age as himself.

"So, Santana, is it?" Kurt grinned, leaning forward slightly to look at her from beside Sam. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Kurt." Something flickered in her eyes briefly.

"Kurt's a pretty unique name," she commented, stirring her drink, very casual-like. "Pretty unique around these parts, at least. There's only one person I know of with that name." Kurt noticed Sam's hand slowly start to slide towards the gun holstered at his side. Santana noticed the movement as well.

"Oh, chill," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not gonna hurt him. Just wanted to see if I was right, which I was. Besides, like Brit said, we're all alike. Our kind has to stick together."

Kurt couldn't help but smile at her words. It felt nice to be accepted by someone who didn't care what his sexual preference was. Kurt's relaxed vibe must have worn off on Sam, as he slowly let his hand drop, falling away from the gun. If Kurt trusted them, then Sam would trust them too. Kurt's instincts about people were always right, so if Kurt felt comfortable around these people, then Sam knew that they were no threat to him.

"Hey, Kurt," Sam said suddenly, turning to his charge. "Do you, umm, mind if I step away for a sec?" He crossed his legs uncomfortably in front of himself. "I kind of need to... You know... Go."

_Yes!_ Kurt screamed in his head. _Go so I can finally be alone for once!_

"Yeah, sure, go right ahead," he nodded, giving the blond a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine right here with Brit and Santana."

"Okay," Sam smiled, looking relieved as he slid off the stool and headed towards the back of the cart. "I'll be right back." As soon as he was gone from sight, Kurt hoped down off the stool, quickly slapping a couple of coins down on the bar top.

"Thank you, ladies, for your lovely company," Kurt smiled at them. "But I think that I'm going to use this opportunity to explore a little on my own."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Santana asked, her voice more curious than worried. "I mean, what if someone recognizes you and isn't as understanding as me?"

"I'll manage," Kurt replied, grinning. He turned and started to take a few steps away, when suddenly, the train started to slow.

"Are we there already?" Kurt asked, moving over to the window to look outside, seeing only the dry, barren land again.

"No," Santana replied tensely, suddenly beside him. "We're not."

They both looked out the window, trying to look towards the front of the train to see why they would be slowing down. And then Kurt saw it. The out of place clouds of dust spiraling towards them.

"Santana-" Kurt started to say, just as she suddenly muttered a curse word under her breath. Kurt looked at her in surprise, but she continued to watch the approaching cloud, muttering one more word.

"Bandits."


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: Because there's already been such a positive response to this story, I decided to give you amazing people a new chapter :) Introduction of some new characters! The plot thickens! _**

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Chapter Two

The clouds of dust were closer now, finally revealing six horses bearing whooping and yelling riders. They drew up alongside the steadily slowing train, leaping onto the giant metal machine with ease.

"What do we do?" Kurt asked Santana, panicking slightly. He quickly looked around, trying to find Sam, but he couldn't see the tall blond anywhere.

"We've got to stay calm and hide," Santana responded quickly, grabbing Kurt's arm and pulling him away from the window. She hopped up and slid over the top of the bar with ease, most likely having done it many times before. Kurt mimicked her actions, though he was not as smooth and graceful as she was at it. They sat down on the floor, much to Kurt's dismay as that would dirty his outfit, with their backs pressed up against the bar. Within a couple of minutes, loud voices came crashing into the room.

"That's right, people, keep moving!" a thick voice whooped. A woman's small cry, along with the whimpering of a small child and the gruff, arguing voice of a man also filled the room. Kurt wished that he could see what was happening, and soon found his wish granted as Santana slowly raised a mirror up to peek over the top of the bar.

In the reflection, Kurt saw two rough-looking men, covered in dirt and dust, pushing forward a small group of people. A third man was going through the cabinets in the room, looking for anything valuable.

"Unhand me!" a familiar voice growled, and suddenly Kurt saw Sam getting shoved into the room. The gun at his hip was gone, but he did not seem to be hurt.

"Keep an eye on this one," the man who had brought Sam in told the other two men who were watching their prisoners as he shoved the tall blond towards them. "He's a feisty one." The two men nodded, inclining their heads slightly as if they had just been given an order by their superior. And maybe he was.

Kurt regarded the man with interest. He was tall, with light, chestnut brown hair that stuck up like spikes at the front. He wore a cocky, self-assured grin as he looked around the room victoriously.

"This room's clear, Bas," the brown haired man who had been searching the room announced. The man, whom had been addressed as Bas, smiled, glancing one more around the room.

"What about the bar, Trent?" Bas said, eyeing their hiding place suspiciously. Kurt gulped subconsciously, the sound louder than he had expected it to be. Bas' eyes flashed as he drew out the pistol from his waist and moved closer to the bar. Santana dropped her hand, cutting off their view of the room, taking Brit's hands in her own instead. Having no one to hold, Kurt hugged his arms around himself, hoping that they would be overlooked.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here!" Bas' voice cooed above them, making Kurt look up. "Hello, gorgeous, what's your name?" Kurt's eyes widened as he realized that the man was talking to him. When Kurt didn't answer, Bas' eyes narrowed unhappily.

"Not much of a talker, huh?" Bas scoffed. "Well, I can fix that. On your feet. All of you." With a pistol pointed at your face, how can you say no?

Kurt quickly scrambled to his feet with the two girls, raising his hands helplessly, praying that he would not die today.

One by one, they each slid over the bar top, each being forced towards the ever growing group of prisoners. Kurt was the last one to cross over, and his arm was instantly grabbed by Bas as soon as his feet touched the floor.

"My, you're even prettier up close," he grinned, leaning in closer to inhale Kurt's scent. Kurt found himself involuntarily shuddering at the man's closeness.

Kurt looked up at Sam, who looked like he was about to go wild and rampage over to him, but Kurt quickly mouthed the word, "No," to him. It didn't seem like these guys had recognized him, but if Sam came raging over, they might start to question Kurt's importance.

"Come on, Bas," the guard with the long, black hair sighed. "Wes wanted us up front immediately. A clean, quick sweep. Nothing else. You don't have time for _playing_." Kurt shuddered at the man's words.

"Aww, Nick, you're such a buzz kill!" Bas sighed, finally pushing Kurt forwards with the rest of the group. "I was just having a little fun!"

"Play time's over, Bas," Nick's blond companion stated, starting to move the prisoners forward. "We've got to go."

"Fine," Bas sighed, shoving a man behind Kurt forward. "Get moving, people!"

They quickly passed through the three carts that Kurt had traveled through not that long ago, stopping in their cart where more bandits waited. There apparently weren't that many people on the train today, because everyone seemed to fit in the one cart, even if it was a little uncomfortable. Kurt was shoved down onto a seat by a bandit he hadn't seen before, Sam following right behind him.

"Sam, what do we do?" Kurt whispered when the bandit turned away.

"Just stay calm and stay quiet," Sam replied cautiously. "They don't recognize you, so that's good. They'll probably just take what they want then leave. We've just got to sit tight until then."

Kurt nodded to show that he understood, not trusting his voice at the moment. Kurt hoped that Sam was right and that soon this would be all over.

"Quiet down!" an authoritative voice yelled over the noise in the room. Kurt eyes immediately snapped up to the dark haired Asian standing up on one of the tables. Once everyone's attention was on him, he continued.

"Now we know that you have something valuable on board here," the man started. "We've seen how many guards are waiting at the station. So our question is, what is it that's so valuable on here? Give it to us, and then we will leave you be. If you cooperate, then no one will have to get hurt." The entire room was silent. No one spoke as the man glared around the room.

"What? No one is willing to fess up?" the man exclaimed. "You don't want to give us your precious treasure? Well, then maybe you need a little persuasion." He motioned to two of the men standing by the door, who quickly opened it to reveal two more men dragging another man between them. Kurt nearly gasped out loud as he realized who it was. Puck. Kurt felt Sam stiffen beside him as he recognized Puck as well.

Puck was brought before the man on the table and shoved to his knees. He tried to fight against his captors, but it was no use as his hands were bound uselessly behind his back. He glared up at the man and yelled what Kurt imagined was many curse words and profanities through the gag in his mouth. The man just smiled down at him before looking back at the crowd in front of him.

"We know what trained guards look like," the man said, staring at each person intently as he looked around the room. "And this man is a guard. Now, what we want to know is, what was he guarding? Tell us now, and his life will be spared. If not..." The man pulled his gun from its holder and held it to Puck's head. "I would really hate to get blood on such a nice carpet, so how about somebody tells us what he's guarding?"

Kurt wanted to stand up and tell them that it was him that they were looking for, but he felt Sam's hand press against his leg in warning. As much as he hated seeing his friend caught in such a predicament, he had sworn an oath to protect Kurt with his life, so as much as he wanted to, he could not help Puck.

"Really?" the man exclaimed, slightly surprised. "No one is going to step forward? Well then, I guess if no one wants to save you, I'll be doing you a favour then." The man cocked the gun, pressing it against the flesh between Puck's eyes.

"One last chance," the man warned. "On the count of three, I'm going to blow his brains out."

Still nothing.

"Alright then," he sighed. "One. Two. Thr-"

"_Stop_!" Kurt didn't realize that the word had come from him until everyone's eyes turned to fall on him. Kurt stared back at all of them in fear and shock. Puck looked livid, Sam looked panicked, and the man on the table looked surprised. But that surprise quickly turned to pleasure.

"Bring him to me," he ordered and suddenly three of the men were advancing on him. Sam stood up, suddenly drawing out a gun that he must have had hidden on him that the bandits hadn't found.

"Stay back!" he yelled, holding the gun out in front of him with one hand as his other arm was held out protectively in front of Kurt. The man in charge seemed annoyed with this new development, but all he did was simply wave his hand at a couple more of the bandits.

It did not take them too long to disarm Sam and grab Kurt.

"Now," the man in charge said, hopping down from the table to look at Kurt who was now kneeling before him, a bandit holding onto each of his arms tightly. "What's on board here that's so special? I'm assuming you have the key to some sort of hidden chest or something? Well? What is it? What's so special that you needed to have two guards with you?"

Ignoring the fervent glances from Puck, Kurt solemnly looked up at the man and sighed.

"Me."

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**_A/N: If you like this story, please do check out some of my other Glee fics, _**_Never Say Goodbye**,** If You Only Knew**, and **If They Only Knew**, as well as my short 3 chapter story **Take My Breath Away**. Please do l****eave reviews letting me know what you think, if you want me to continue, and what you think will happen next! :)**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: You guys have no idea how much your support means to me :) You guys are amazing. I have a few chapters written of this story already so I'll post them every couple of days :) (3 DAYS TILL KLAINE REUNION/MAKEUP! FANGIRLING!)  
**_

_**One note: I changed one of the names in the previous chapter. I had meant to do that before I posted it but I guess I didn't. Where I had put Thad, I meant to change to Trent. Thad (being on the council within the Warblers) would not be ordered around by Sebastian, so I changed him to being Trent. Sorry about that! Thad will show up a little later :-p  
**_

_**I hope you like this new chapter! Please do comment and let me know what you think! What you liked, what you didn't, things that got you excited and things that made you angry. Can't wait to hear from you! :) Enjoy! **_

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Chapter Three

"You?" the man raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him. "And why is it that you are so special?"

Kurt nibbled on his bottom lip, unsure of what to say. Should he lie? But what would he say? What would they do if they knew who he really was? Kurt lowered his gaze as his mind whirled, trying to think of a response. Fingers suddenly gripped his chin, yanking his head up to look at the man.

"I asked you a question," the man snapped, his fingers uncomfortably tight on Kurt's chin. Kurt figured that he would probably get a bruise there... that is, if he lived long enough for it to bruise.

When Kurt still didn't respond, the man let go and stepped away, back towards where Puck and now Sam were kneeling.

"Maybe you need a little help jogging your memory," the man said, pulling out his gun again and pointing it at Puck's head. "This seemed to work so well last time."

"Wes, is this really necessary?" the blond from earlier asked cautiously.

"Silence!" the man, whom Kurt now could address as Wes, growled. "I'm in charge here! I'm the one who makes the decisions!" Turning back to Kurt, his eyes flashed with impatience. "So, boy, what is going to be?"

Kurt's eyes widened with fear. What should he do? Save them and risk his own life? Or be a coward and potentially be the cause of their deaths? Kurt sighed, knowing that his choice had already been made.

"Please, don't hurt them," Kurt pleaded, watching as Wes moved the gun back and forth between Puck and Sam's heads. "I'll tell you what you want to know."

At his words, Puck and Sam started to thrash against their captors' hold, screaming what Kurt guessed was angry nos into their gags. Wes just smiled as he stepped away and returned to Kurt.

"That's more like it," he grinned. "Now, why are you so special? Who are you?" Taking a deep breath, Kurt answered.

"Kurt," he replied. "Kurt Hummel." A murmur rose through the room as people recognized the name.

"Well, well, well!" Wes grinned triumphantly. "Looky who we've got here, boys! The _Governor's_ one and only son! No wonder the station's so heavily guarded! They're waiting for _you_! I bet that your daddy would pay a pretty penny to get you back safe and sound, now wouldn't he?"

Kurt hung his head in shame. How could he have been so weak to give in that easily? In his heart, he knew why. He was too caring, a quality that he had been told that he had gotten from his mother. He just wouldn't be able to live with himself if someone else were to come to harm because of him.

"Aww, don't worry, Hummel," Wes chuckled, tipping Kurt's head up to look at him. "I'm sure that Daddy Hummel will instantly pay whatever we ask to get you back. But until then, you get to come see what life is like on the rougher side of the tracks. Tie him up, boys! And ready the horses! We leave in five!"

Kurt was roughly pulled to his feet and his arms were forced in front of him and tied tightly with a thick rope. A less than pleasant looking bandana was shoved into his mouth and tied around the back of his head. And, to top it all off, another bandana was tied around his eyes, leaving him completely vulnerable. Just before the dirty cloth blocked his vision, Kurt was able to see Puck and Sam staring at him with despair and defeat, knowing that they had failed to protect him. Kurt wished that he could tell them that it wasn't their fault and that he didn't blame them, but they were already gone from his sight.

"Tell Governor Hummel that the Warblers have his son and that if he ever wants to see him alive again that he'd better be willing to pay the price," Kurt heard Wes say, presumably to Puck and Sam. "Tell him that we will send a messenger in two days time with our demands and the location of a meeting place. Kurt will not be harmed as long as he meets our demands, but if he fails to meet any of them, then he can say goodbye to his _precious_ boy." Two muffled cries sounded into Kurt's ears, followed quickly after by the sound of something heavy hitting the floor.

_They only knocked them out,_ Kurt told himself, trying to calm down. _They wouldn't give them a message then kill them. That wouldn't make sense. _

"Come on, Hummel," Wes' voice suddenly filled his ear as a hand roughly grabbed his arm and quickly started to pull him away. Kurt was forced to stumble along with the man, not really having much choice in the matter, and was soon met by the sun's heat. He was roughly lifted down off the train, then up onto a tall horse. His bound hands were tied to what Kurt guessed was the saddle horn before another person slid into the saddle behind him. Kurt heart started to pound, worrying that it could be the creepy man from earlier, Bas, if he remembered correctly.

"It's okay," a familiar voice whispered in his ear as arms enclosed around his sides to grab the reins. "You're in good hands." It took Kurt a couple of minutes to pinpoint who the voice belonged to, but he was able to conclude that it was the blond that had been apart of the group that had found him, Santana, and Brit. Kurt suddenly wondered what had happened to them.

_I hope they're okay, _Kurt worried. _But they should be fine, right? I was the only one that they took. _

"Here we go," the blond whispered again as the horse beneath them suddenly started to move.

Kurt tried to cry out in alarm, but it only came out as a muffled "Mmph!" through his clearly unsanitary gag. He hadn't ridden a horse in years, not since the accident, so feeling the powerful beast moving beneath him greatly unsettled him, making him grip onto the saddle horn that he was tied to more tightly.

It seemed like they rode for hours, stopping only a couple of times for very short breaks to water the horses. During those times, Kurt's gag was removed so that he could be given water as well, which he greedily accepted, but his blindfold was never removed once. It wasn't until they stopped well after nightfall that the blindfold was removed.

He had been taken down off the horse, which was for the first time since they had put him on the beast, making his legs very wobbly. He was quickly led over to a solid object, which he quickly distinguished as being a tree, where he was forced to sit down. He was tightly tied to the tree, the rough bark pressing uncomfortably into his back. It was only once they were sure that he was secure did the blindfold come off.

Kurt blinked as he was finally able to see, finding his golden haired companion crouching down in front of him. The man carefully eased the gag out of Kurt's mouth, letting it fall down around his neck.

"Better?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"Yes," Kurt's voice croaked in response, earning him a wider smile from his captor.

"Here, this will help," he said, holding a flask up to Kurt's lips, which he drank heavily from. "I'm Jeff, by the way."

"Kurt," he replied, giving him a small smile. "Though I think you already knew that."

"_Jeff_!" Wes' voice called out, making him turn away from Kurt.

"I'll be right back," he said, standing and going over to where the other men were gathered around a slowly building fire.

Now that he was alone, Kurt was able to assess his situation. It was dark now, the glow from the campfire being one of the only sources of light apart from a couple of torches lining the outside of their camp, which appeared to be inside of a forest. That surprised Kurt as he had not seen any source of life from his view on the train. They must have ridden quite a distance from the time that they had taken him till now.

Kurt watched the bandits as they shuffled around the camp, going about their duties. He quickly counted about twelve of them in total, including Wes who was very clearly the one in charge as he barked orders to the other men around the camp.

Kurt glanced down at his hands, which were still tied in front of him. In the firelight, he could see the start of a deep red rash from where the ropes were chaffing against his wrists.

"Don't you just look perfect sitting there," an unpleasantly familiar voice exclaimed. "Sitting there all tied up like a present." Kurt looked up and glared at Bas as he crouched down in front of him. "A present just for me."

"Leave me alone!" Kurt snapped at him, wishing that he could back away from the unpleasant man, but unfortunately couldn't due to the tree currently jabbing into his back.

"Aww, but you're so pretty!" Bas cooed, reaching his fingers out to brush Kurt's face, which he instantly flinched away from. "And so perfect. You're skin just looks so smooth..." He ran his fingers along the bare skin on Kurt's arm, making him shiver uncomfortably. "Not rough at all, like these men I've been stuck with. No, you're fresh and new. Untouched. _Perfect_. I would kill to stroke that fine-"

"Screw you!" Kurt blurted, spitting in Bas' face, which had gotten way to close to his own. Bas wiped the spit off his face, anger flashing through his eyes for a second before he grinned.

"That's the idea," he replied, leaning closer as his hand touched Kurt's thigh and slowly started to slide higher. "We never said that we had to return you _exactly _the way that we found you. Besides, you can't be a virgin forever, right?" He leaned closer, his lips drawing closer to Kurt's as the hand also slid closer. He was just inches away from-

"_Sebastian_!" the voice jolted the man away from him and Kurt let out the breath that he hadn't even known he'd been holding. Kurt looked up to see his saviour, Jeff, storming over to them, a bowl in his hands.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?!" Jeff yelled, attracting the attention of the other men. "Just because he's our prisoner doesn't mean that you can use and abuse him like you do with everyone else!"

"Is there a problem here?" Wes' cold voice joined the conversation. Sebastian lowered his head submissively as he stood and stepped away from Kurt.

"No, Sir," he muttered, sending a quick glare in Jeff's direction.

"Very well then," Wes nodded. "I believe that you were on horse duty tonight. You'd better get back to work if you want to eat."

"Yes, Sir," Sebastian mumbled, nodding his head before turning and storming off in the direction of the horses.

"Jeff, I want you and Nick to be the ones to guard him," Wes said, motioning towards Kurt, his voice surprisingly soft. "We can't have Sebastian trying to pull another stunt like that again." He started to turn as if he were going to leave.

"Thank you," Kurt called out after him, making him stop and look back with a surprised expression on his face. "That is very kind of you." Something flickered in Wes' expression that Kurt wasn't able to read and suddenly he was crouched down in front of Kurt, gripping the front of Kurt's shirt in his fist.

"Listen, _Hummel_," Wes growled. "We're _not _your friends, okay? The reason I won't let Bas touch you is because I said that as long as your father paid up, you would be returned unharmed. I am a man of my word, believe it or not, and when I said you would be returned unharmed, I meant it." Kurt shot a glance down at his sore wrists and raised his eyebrows questioningly. Wes caught the action and rolled his eyes.

"No _irreversible _harm will come to you," Wes explained. "If you try to run, you will be beaten. If you disobey, you will be beaten. If you talk back, you will be beaten. Cuts and bruises heal, Hummel. Even broken bones will. But some things will not heal and it is that kind of harm that I will not allow to befall you, got it?"

"Y-Yes," Kurt nodded, and Wes let go of his shirt.

"Oh, and one more thing, Hummel," Wes said. "For as long as you're with us, you will address me and everyone else as 'Sir'. If you remain compliant and submissive, then you should get out of this relatively unscathed. You got that?"

"Yes," Kurt nodded again. He was rewarded with a sudden slap across the face.

"Yes, _what_?" Wes growled, narrowing his eyes at Kurt.

"Y-Yes, S-Sir," Kurt stuttered, lowering his gaze submissively.

"Good," Kurt could hear the pleased tone to his voice. "Keep that up and, with a little help from _dear old dad_, you should be out of here in no time."

Kurt listened as he stood up and walked away, not raising his gaze again until he was sure that he was gone.

"So, Kurt," Jeff said, sitting down beside him. "You hungry?"

"Yes, Sir," Kurt replied with a heavy sigh.

"It's okay, Kurt," Jeff chuckled lightly. "You don't have to do that with me. You can just call me Jeff. I think it suits me better than 'Sir'." Kurt looked up and caught the smile on Jeff's face, quickly realizing that he was joking. Kurt couldn't help but smile as well.

"Thank you," he said, giving Jeff a small but honest smile. "For helping me with on the horse today and for this and for stopping Sebastian and for everything."

"It's no problem," Jeff grinned. "I rarely get a chance to do anything nice for anyone, since people look at us and automatically think that we're bad people."

"Well, robbing and kidnapping people doesn't really help make you look like a good guy, now does it?" Kurt joked, though he instantly regretted it the second he said it. He gave Jeff a wary glance, worried that he had overstepped, but all the man did was laugh.

"I like you, Kurt," he grinned, making Kurt relax.

"You're not so bad yourself," Kurt replied, grinning as well. "You know, despite the whole kidnapping me part."

"I have to follow my orders," Jeff just shrugged. "Now enough talk. Here, you need to eat this before it gets cold." He gently scooped something from the bowl and lifted the spoon to Kurt's lips. Kurt eyed it warily, but, deciding that he could semi-trust Jeff, opened his mouth and allowed himself to be spoon fed.

A surprisingly vibrant amount of flavours filled his mouth and he hummed with pleasure, making Jeff smile. After the first bite of the tasty stew, he eagerly opened his mouth for the following spoonfuls. The bowl was empty all too soon, but Kurt's stomach was surprisingly satisfied, even though he hadn't eaten very much all day.

"That was really good," Kurt sighed happily, leaning his head back against the rough bark of the tree and closing his eyes.

"Yeah, Nick is a great cook," Jeff replied. "It's one of the many things that I love about him."

"Love?" Kurt commented, raising his eyebrows. There had been a very passionate emphasis on that word. "Are you-"

"Boyfriends?" another voice finished for him, which, when Kurt looked up, turned out to be Nick himself. "Yes, we are." Nick smiled as he sat down beside Jeff, passing him one of the two bowls that he was carrying.

"I'm Nick," he said. "Though I think that you must have figured that out by now."

"Yes, I remember you from on the train," Kurt nodded, returning the smile, though not as enthusiastically. "You stopped Sebastian from... I don't even want to think about it."

"Yeah, Bas can be like that," Nick sighed. "He's gotten used to the idea that whatever he wants, he gets."

"Can I ask you something?" Kurt asked slowly. "I've heard you call him Bas, while others call him Sebastian, so-"

"It's just easier to say Bas rather than his full name all the time," Nick shrugged. "Really the only time anyone ever calls him Sebastian is when they're pissed at him." Kurt nodded, showing that he understood. Seeing how carefree the two seemed, Kurt thought to attempt asking another question.

"So what's the deal with, Wes, is it?" Kurt asked cautiously. "One second he's protecting me, then next he's threatening to kill me. I don't get it."

"He's just under a lot of stress," Jeff explained through mouthfuls of stew. "He really wants to impress the boss after the whole gavel incident." He and Nick laughed, sharing in some private memory.

"Wait, so Wes _isn't _the boss?" Kurt asked, surprised. "But I thought-"

"He's the leader of this raid, but he's not the leader of our group. No, he's more like the bandit version of a deputy. Not the head sheriff, but still powerful and authoritative. You'll meet our real leader tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Kurt replied. "When? Where?"

"I think you've asked enough questions for one night," Nick chuckled lightly, exchanging a glance with Jeff. "You should get some sleep. We have another half a day's ride ahead of us tomorrow."

"Where are you taking me?" Kurt pleaded.

"Home," Jeff grinned. "Our home."


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: This chapter is just a short filler piece, so I thought I'd give it to you guys now and give you a better chapter tomorrow :) Enjoy!_**

Chapter Four

Burt Hummel shifted anxiously as he stood on the train station platform, waiting for his son to arrive. The train was late, which worried him greatly. What if something had happened? Try as he might, Burt couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that resided in the pit of his stomach.

"There it is, Sir," one of his guards, a guy by the name of Mike, if he remembered correctly, said, pointing off into the distance. On the horizon, there was a small black speck that was quickly growing in size as it neared. Burt let out a deep sigh of relief. Soon his son would be here. He would be safe.

Burt smiled, thinking about the surprise news that he had to tell Kurt. He couldn't wait to see Kurt's reaction.

Yet, as the train drew closer, Burt just couldn't shake that ominous foreboding feeling. He silently prayed that he was just being paranoid.

_Kurt is fine, _he told himself. _He's fine. There's no need to worry. _

Burt's heart pounded as the train slowed to a stop before them. The doors slowly opened and people started to pour out of the train, chatting animatedly. Burt caught snippets of their conversations as they passed by, one word sticking out each time.

"_Bandits_."

"Mike," Burt said, turning to the man beside him. "Go find Puck, Sam, and my son."

"Yes, Sir," Mike nodded his head before moving forward against the crowd flowing off of the train. He quickly disappeared from sight as he entered the train, leaving Burt to wait anxiously for his return. And return he did, but with only two people.

Puck was being supported between Mike and Sam as they moved towards Burt, a trail of dried blood running down the side of his head. Burt's heart nearly stopped at the sight of the blood and the lack of sight of his son.

"Where is he?" Burt demanded once they were close enough to hear him. "Where's my son?"

Puck and Sam hung their heads shamefully, remaining silent.

"Answer me!" Burt nearly yelled.

Sam slowly raised his head, his sorrowful eyes meeting Burt's angry ones.

"They took him," Sam answered mournfully. "They took him and we couldn't stop them. We failed you." Sam let his head drop again.

"Who took him?" Burt cried, panic rising in him. "Who took my son?"

Puck and Sam exchanged a small glance and this time it was Puck who answered.

"The Warblers."


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N: I am seriously blown away by your positive response of my story :) I'm so thrilled that you all like it! Please do leave me a comment :) If you write stories too, you'll know how much it means to the author to get comments and feedback :) _**

**_Warning: There is some violence in this chapter. _**

**_Enjoy! :)_**

* * *

Chapter Five

Sleeping sitting up, tied to a tree, with rough bark sticking into your back doesn't make for a pleasant night's rest. He didn't even realize that he had finally fallen asleep until Jeff was shaking him awake the next morning.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Jeff grinned, working to undo the knots tying him to the tree. "Sleep well?"

"No," Kurt groaned as Jeff helped him to his feet. He cautiously tested his wrists, wincing as pain shot through them. The skin all around the ropes was bright red and peeling. Jeff caught Kurt's glance, gasping when he saw Kurt's wrists.

"Ooo, that's gotta hurt!" Jeff exclaimed, making Kurt sit back down again. He quickly undid his belt and looped it around Kurt's ankles, pulling it tight to make sure that it was secure.

"So you can't run away on me," Jeff explained as he pulled out a knife and gently cut through the ropes wrapped around Kurt's wrists. He then pulled out a somewhat cleaner looking bandana and carefully wrapped it around Kurt's wrists.

"This is going to hurt a bit," he warned as he retied a fresh piece of rope overtop of the cloth. "There, that should help at least a little bit."

"Jeff!" someone called out, making him turn away from Kurt. "Time to go!"

"Alright," Jeff said, turning back to Kurt. "Looks like it's time to move out." He started to move to help Kurt to his feet again, but Kurt quickly stopped him.

"Umm, my feet?" Kurt said, smirking slightly. Jeff looked down at Kurt's feet and surprisingly blushed slightly.

"Opps," Jeff chuckled, undoing the belt and redoing it around his waist. "Okay, now let's go."

He carefully helped Kurt to his feet and back over to the horse that Kurt assumed he had been riding before, since he had never actually seen it yet.

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to, you know," Jeff apologized, holding up a couple bandanas in his hands.

"Do you have to?" Kurt sighed unhappily. Jeff thought for a moment before answering.

"Look, we'll compromise, okay?" Jeff said, tucking one of the bandanas back into his pocket. "If you promise not to yell or anything, I'll leave the gag off, alright? Don't even bother asking for the blindfold to stay off because that is a no-go. We can't have you seeing how to get to our place, cause then once you're free again, you would be able to lead the Law right to us. And we can't have that, now can we?"

"Alright," Kurt sighed, nodding. "Deal. It beats having that awful thing in my mouth."

"I will warn you that I'll have to gag you again before we get there," Jeff said as he tied the bandana around Kurt's eyes. "Can't have the boss thinking that we've gone soft on him, treating our prisoners nicely. It would ruin our reputation!"

"Well, I'm not ordinary prisoner, now am I?" Kurt grinned, unable to help himself. Though he was terrified of what was going to happen to him, he couldn't help but enjoy being in this man's company. Neither he nor Nick seemed like the stereotypical rough, tough mean bandits that he'd heard stories about. They were actually nice and pretty cool.

"Alright, up you go!" Jeff said as a couple of hands grabbed him and helped lift him up onto the horse. Jeff's body quickly slid in behind him, and Kurt could feel his hands getting tied to the saddle horn again.

"Just a precaution," Jeff whispered in his ear.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Kurt sighed. "Can't have me running away on you." Kurt could feel Jeff's stomach vibrate against his back as he laughed.

"You are going to make this part of the trip so much more enjoyable now that you can talk," Jeff chuckled, flicking the reins to make the horse move. "I was getting bored of just talking to myself in my head on these trips!"

"Oh dear!" Kurt feigned a gasp. "I'm stuck on a horse with a crazy person who talks to himself!"

"Don't tell me that you weren't doing that yesterday!" Jeff retorted teasingly. He took Kurt's silence as an affirmative response and laughed. "Join me, Kurt, and together we will fill the world with our insanity!"

"You're crazy!" Kurt giggled.

"Yes!" Jeff exclaimed. "Phase One has been completed! Now onto Phase Two! You!"

The next couple of hours passed by pleasurably for Kurt. Well, as pleasurable as they can be when you're tied to the saddle horn of a horse with no clue as to where you're going. And when other sudden urges started to arise.

"Umm, Jeff?" Kurt called out tentatively.

"Uh huh?" Jeff replied kind of absently.

"I need to, um," Kurt shifted uncomfortably in the saddle, which seemed to alert Jeff to his dilemma.

"Oh crap!" Jeff swore. "How long has it been since you last went?"

"Umm, yesterday morning?" Kurt replied, his discomfort growing by the minute.

"Crap!" Jeff swore again. "Look, we're almost to the next checkpoint. Do you think that you can hold it just a little bit longer?" Kurt bit his lip as he nodded in reply.

The next ten minutes were the most uncomfortable ten minutes of his life. His bladder screamed at him painfully and it was blessed Heaven when he finally felt the horse start to slow. Once they stopped, Jeff quickly detached Kurt from the horse and helped him down, leading him away with a quick explanation of, "Bathroom."

"Alright, Kurt," Jeff said as he carefully took the blindfold off. "Be quick. You have five minutes." Jeff turned around to give Kurt some privacy. Kurt blinked as he looked around, noting that they were in a forest again.

_For being such a dried up and abandoned land, there sure is a lot of greenery here,_ Kurt noted as he awkwardly opened his pants to do his business which, though wasn't easy to do with your hands tied, was still manageable. Once he was done and had redone his pants back up, he took a quick glance over at Jeff, who was watching a butterfly floating around, which seemed like an odd creature to Kurt to be living in this kind of atmosphere.

_That could be why he's so entranced by it,_ Kurt thought, taking a slow step back away from Jeff. _This would be the perfect time to attempt an escape while he's distracted... _

He took another couple of steps backwards, keeping his eyes steadily on Jeff's back as he moved, until the foliage of the trees blocked him from sight. Then, Kurt turned and started to run.

Kurt had hoped that he would be able to get a good head start before Jeff noticed that he was gone, but it seemed all too soon when the yells of angry voices started to fill the forest. Kurt quickened his pace, thanking his long legs and gracefulness as he smoothly weaved his way through the trees. He saw a light up ahead and pushed himself to go faster, quickly breaking through the clump of trees back into the sunlight. The new scenery made his heart sink.

Everywhere he looked, there was just dry, barren land. The only source of colour stood silently behind him.

_Crap!_ Kurt silently swore, looking around him. The yells were getting louder and closer behind him, so Kurt made his split rash decision. He started running forward. There wasn't much else for choices at the moment and if he couldn't outrun them, he could at least make them work to catch him. He was Kurt Hummel and he was not going down without a fight.

His feet pounded against the rough surface as he ran, his breaths coming out in ragged gasps. He glanced back and saw that the bandits had reached the edge of the tree line. He had a fairly good lead on them. But, as he started to turn to look back ahead, a flash of movement caught his eye. Coming around the side of the forest was a horse. A horse bearing a rider.

"_Crap_!" Kurt swore out loud. There was no way that he could outrun a horse. But yet, he still continued to run. It wasn't until something dropped down around him and pulled him to a sudden stop that he finally stopped running. The sudden force that yanked him back caused him to be thrown to the ground, landing painfully and sharply on his bottom. Though slightly disorientated from his fall, he quickly glanced down and saw that a length of rope was wrapped around him.

_A lasso,_ he realized quickly. He had just been lassoed.

"I have half a mind to drag you back like that," a voice growled and Kurt looked up to see Wes hopping down from the horse. He stormed over to Kurt, grabbing him by the front of his collar and lifting him to his feet. "Did I not warn you about what would happen if you tried to escape?"

Kurt felt his heart pound in his chest. He wasn't seriously going to hurt him, was he?

_No __**irreversible **__harm. _Wes' words from the night before flashed through his head, making Kurt flood with fear. They wouldn't kill him, but they could seriously harm him.

"I'm s-sorry," Kurt stuttered, his eyes wide with fear. "I d-didn't m-mean-"

"Silence!" Wes snapped, shaking him slightly. A small whimper broke from Kurt's lips.

"You're weak," Wes spat, letting go of Kurt's shirt and letting him fall back down to the ground. He turned sharply and got back up on his horse again.

"Get up, Hummel," he ordered from atop his horse. "Unless you want to be dragged back." Kurt quickly got to his feet, which was slightly awkward and hard to do since not only were his hands tied, but the rope wrapped around him had pinned his arms to his sides. Wes attached the other end of the rope to his horse, then spurred it forward, forcing Kurt to follow. It was a very awkward walk back.

Two bandits grabbed ahold of him the second that they were back with the others. Wes quickly slid down off his horse and pulled the lasso off of Kurt.

"Rope him up, boys," Wes told the two holding him. He was quickly led away to a tree with a low hanging branch that already had a length of rope hanging down from it. They pulled his arms above his head and attached his wrists to the rope, tying it so tight that it nearly cut off the circulation to his hands. The rope was pulled up, lifting him off the ground slightly. He was still able to touch if he stood on the tips of his toes, but it was extremely uncomfortable.

"We do not allow for disobedience here," Wes said, his voice followed by a loud cracking sound. Kurt's eyes immediately shot up to Wes, who was holding what looked like a long riding crop. Kurt eyed it warily as Wes continued to pace.

"We also do not allow for _failure _here," Wes continued, turning his glare over on Jeff, who was huddled down beside a tree with Nick right at his side. Kurt caught Nick's eyes and was rewarded with a nasty glare. If looks could kill...

"Since it was Jeff's responsibility to watch you and he failed, he had to be punished, just as you will be punished now," Wes said in a loud voice, making sure that everyone gathered around could hear him.

"_That_," he cried, pointing at Jeff, "Is what happens when you fail! And _this _is what happens when you disobey!"

By this time, Wes had circled around behind Kurt, out of his line of sight. Kurt didn't know what was happening until he felt the skin on his back scream in agony. The sound that came from his mouth was unnatural and bloodcurdling as pain laced through him. All he could feel was overwhelming pain as his back was struck over and over again.

It felt like this torture was never going to end when suddenly, Wes stopped. Kurt let his body slump forward, as far as it could before the rope pulled him to a stop, his head falling down against his chest. Kurt panted heavily, sharp pain accompanying every ragged breath he took. He was in so much pain that he couldn't even bring himself to care about how tattered his shirt must be from all of the sharp, cloth-ripping lashes.

Suddenly, fingers were lacing through his hair and yanking his head back sharply, making another wave of pain run through him.

"You're lucky, _Hummel_," Wes snarled in his ear. "Normally you'd be given twenty lashes for that stupid act, but Jeff offered to take half of your punishment, on top of his own, so you lucked out this time. Next time you won't be so lucky... Don't make there be a next time, got it?"

"Y-Yes," Kurt managed to whisper, wincing slightly as his hair was almost pulled from its roots.

"Yes, what?" Wes snapped, yanking back on his hair again, making him gasp with pain.

"Y-Yes, S-Sir," he sputtered as tears started to pour down his cheeks.

"You're pathetic!" Wes growled, letting Kurt's head drop again. "Cut him down and load him up, boys! Next stop, home!" A loud cheer rang through the group as his rope was suddenly cut, causing him to collapse to the ground.

"Come on, on your feet, Hummel," a guy, Trent, if he remembered correctly, ordered, grabbing his arm and roughly pulling him to his feet. Pain shot through his back, making him cry out.

"Shut him up!" Wes growled, throwing a piece of cloth at Trent. Kurt couldn't even muster up the strength to argue before the dirty cloth was shoved into his mouth and tied around the back of his head. He was then quickly shoved over towards the horses and loaded onto a different horse than the one that he had been riding before. His hands were once again tied to the saddle horn before someone slid into the saddle behind him. Kurt cast a quick glance over his shoulder and, upon recognizing Trent, relaxed slightly. But that was the last thing he saw as Trent quickly blindfolded him, ignoring the soft cries of pain that were muffled into his gag as Trent leaned up against Kurt's tender back.

"Alright, boys!" he heard Wes exclaim. "Let's ride!"


	6. Chapter 6

**_A/N: Thank you for being so patient in waiting for this chapter. I'm going to try to post at least once every week, most likely on thursdays. I am currently in school and writing four stories at once so it's hard to keep up with everything, so please bear with me. _**

**_And now I bring you to the Warbler camp! That means more new characters! Enjoy! :-p  
_**

* * *

Chapter Six

He must have blacked out from the pain jolting through his back with each pounding step of the horse's hooves, suddenly finding himself being awaken as the horse was brought to a sudden, but controlled stop. Kurt slowly raised his head, blindly looking around, wondering where he was.

"Welcome back, my brethren!" a deep, unfamiliar voice boomed. "I see that you all have returned safely! I trust that everything went well?"

Kurt wished that he could see who was speaking. He hated feeling so helpless.

"Yes, everything went well... for the most part," Wes replied slowly. "We ran into... a slight complication."

"What kind of complication?" the other man asked, his voice stating that he was not pleased. The horse beneath Kurt suddenly started to move again, most likely bringing them before the man that he guessed was most likely the boss.

"What is this?!" the man cried, clearly outraged. "You were supposed to get on the train, get the treasure, and then get off! Not take prisoners!"

"He _is _the treasure!" Wes sighed. "That boy is none other than Kurt Hummel, Governor Hummel's son." Everything fell silent at his words, the only sounding being what Kurt assumed was a sharp gasp from the man he had now assumed to be the boss.

"Hummel's son," he repeated, his voice sounding thoughtful and intrigued. "Yes, this could work. Montgomery, with me." Kurt listened to the sounds of two people walking away, the ground thumping quietly beneath their feet.

As soon as they were gone, Trent shifted behind him, quickly sliding down off the horse and starting to work at the knots holding Kurt to the horse. The knots were quickly undone and suddenly he was being manhandled down off the horse.

Loud shouts of anger burst from somewhere nearby, but the sound was muffled slightly, as if the person was inside a building or a tent or something. After a couple of minutes, the yelling subsided.

"Take him to the pit," the boss' voice suddenly announced right next to him, making Kurt jump.

"Yes, Sir," one of the men holding him said and suddenly he was being turned around and led away to... the pit?

_That doesn't sound appealing, _Kurt frowned to himself, thinking about what it would do to his clothes. _Though it's not like they aren't already ruined..._

It seemed to take a long time for them to get to this so called pit, but finally they stopped moving and the ropes on his wrists were cut. He reached up to take the blindfold off but was quickly told off and backhanded across the face. His wrists were suddenly grabbed, which made the cuts there cry out in pain, and then he was being lifted off the ground and slowly lowered down into what he assumed was the pit.

As soon as his feet brushed the ground, his wrists were released and he collapsed to the ground, the impact making the wounds on his back flare with pain. He let out an inaudible gasp of pain before quickly reaching up and ripping the gag out of his mouth. He didn't care if he got reprimanded for it now. Everything just hurt too much to hold it all in.

A sob ripped from his throat as he laid on the ground panting in pain. He laid there for a while, quietly sobbing before he heard it.

"Hey," the voice was soft and sounded kind. Kurt slowly tilted his head up, carefully reaching for the blindfold as he did so, but someone else beat him to it. As the cloth slid away from his eyes, Kurt found himself staring up into the eyes of an angel.

"Are you okay?" the golden eyed creature asked him. Kurt found himself at a loss for words, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, with no sound coming out as he stared at the dark, curly haired man before him. His gorgeous eyes lit up brightly, sparkling with laughter, as a smile spread across his face.

"I'm Blaine," he said. "What's your name?"

"K-Kurt," he finally managed to sputter.

"That's a nice name," Blaine smiled. "Do you have a last name, Kurt?"

Not thinking, Kurt slowly nodded and replied with, "Hummel."

Blaine's eyes widened with surprise.

"Hummel as in Governor Hummel Hummel?" he asked, his triangular eyebrows raising.

"Y-Yes," Kurt nodded again. "I-I'm his son."

"Is he coming for you?" Blaine asked eagerly, suddenly grabbing Kurt by the shoulders. "Is he coming to rescue you?"

"No," Kurt shook his head sadly. "He doesn't know where I am. I don't even know where I am." Blaine let out a heavy, disappointed sigh as he let go of Kurt and fell back onto his bottom.

"I thought that maybe I finally had a chance of getting out of here," he whispered softly, a tear running down his cheek. "I'm never going to get out of here!"

"Yes, you will," Kurt said, crawling over to him. For some reason, he felt a strange urge to hold him and comfort him. He gently wrapped his arms around Blaine, being careful as to not stretch his back to avoid provoking his wounds.

"When I get home, I'll get my dad to pay whatever ransom these men want for you," Kurt promised.

"You'd do that? For me?" Blaine sniffed, looking up at Kurt as he pulled away from him. "How do you know he'll do it?"

"My dad loves me," Kurt replied, attempting a smile. "He'd do anything to make sure that I get home safe and if I tell him that I have a friend still trapped here, he'd do whatever he could to get you back safely too."

"Thanks, Kurt," Blaine smiled. "You have no idea how much your words mean to me." He suddenly threw his arms around Kurt in a hug, his arms slapping hard against Kurt's back and making him cry out in pain. Blaine quickly pulled away, a look of shock and worry plastered across his face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, worry lacing his voice as well. "What did I do?"

Kurt took a deep breath to control the pain before he replied.

"It's not your fault," he said, turning slightly to show Blaine his back, the red welts showing through the tears in his shirt. "I tried to run and was caught." He heard Blaine's sharp inhale as he looked at the marks.

"They look worse than they actually are," Kurt continued, trying to calm Blaine. "I was supposed to get twenty but only got ten." He turned back to look at Blaine whose face was red with anger.

"Who did this to you?" he asked, his voice low and full of rage.

"Blaine, it's fine-" Kurt started to say.

"Who did this to you?!" Blaine repeated, his voice rising as he cut Kurt off.

"T-The leader," Kurt replied, his eyes widening in surprise at Blaine's reaction. "W-Wes." He saw Blaine's eyes flash with recognition and suddenly, he was up on his feet and over at the side of the pit.

"Let me out!" he yelled at the guards above.

"Blaine, I don't think that-" Kurt started to say before the trap door at the top suddenly opened and a rope dropped down. Blaine slid his foot into the loop at the bottom, his hand locking securely above a knot halfway up the rope. Blaine gave the rope a short, hard tug before turning back to Kurt and smiling.

"Thank you so much for your help, Kurt Hummel," he grinned, giving Kurt a mock bow. "It was greatly appreciated."

And then he was gone, having been quickly pulled up out of the pit. Kurt sat in place, stunned for a couple of minutes, before the realization of what he had done slowly dawned on him.

Blaine was one of them.

And Kurt had just told him that his father would be willing to do anything to get him back.


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N: Okay, so this is another shorter one, so, to be fair since I made you wait a week for this, I am going to give you two chapters. Yes, that's right, I said two :) This first one is another jump back to Governor Hummel to see what's happening with him, and then the next chapter will be back with Kurt. It's another short one, but not as short as chapter 4, so hopefully putting them together will make up for them being so short. I hope that you enjoy it and thank you to every one who has followed or favourited this story :) Enjoy!  
_**

* * *

Chapter Seven

"Sir, we found this man at your house, demanding to see you."

Burt looked up from the paperwork on his desk to see Mike standing in his doorway, holding a dust-covered man roughly by the arm.

"What does he want?" Burt asked, eyeing the man warily. He wore a smug look on his face as he watched Burt, which greatly unsettled him. Burt quickly turned his gaze away, looking back down at his paperwork again instead. "I'm very busy."

"Still looking for your son?" the man spoke up suddenly, his words as smug as his face. Burt's head snapped back up in alarm at his words.

"What do you know of my son?" Burt snapped, standing up and looking more closely at the man. His hair was coifed up in a style that would almost be like how Kurt would style his own hair. His green eyes shone with a cockiness that radiated through his body. It was his clothes that caught Burt's attention the most. There, stitched into the bottom corner of his shirt, was a small emblem of a bird. A _warbler_.

"You're one of them!" Burt exclaimed, pointing at the symbol. "What have you done with my son? Where is he?"

"If you will allow me to get it, in my pocket is a letter from our leader," the man spoke calmly, unphased by Burt's outburst. "In it is our list of demands. If you should ever wish to see your son alive again, I suggest that you comply with all of them."

Burt nodded and the man slowly reached into his shirt's inner pocket, quickly pulling out an envelope. Burt quickly stepped forward and snatched it out of the man's hand.

It read:

_Governor Hummel,_

_By now you know that we have your son. If you ever want to see him alive again, I suggest that you heed our demands. _

_At sundown two nights from now, you will arrive at the location on the map that will be provided to you by the messenger, Sebastian. There, you will hand over $500, 000 in gold coins to us in exchange for the safe return of your son. Give Sebastian your decision and let him go free. If you do not release him or if he is followed, your son will be executed and I will personally send you his head. Make your choices wisely, Governor. They will mean the difference between life and death. _

_Sincerely yours,  
_

Instead of a name printed at the bottom, all there was was that same emblem of the warbler bird imprinted onto the page.

Burt looked up at Mike as he crunched the letter up in his fist.

"Let him go," he said, not looking at the man.

"But, Sir-" Mike started to protest.

"Do it!" Burt snapped, turning to look at Sebastian. "And tell your leader that I will see him in two days."

"Wise choice," Sebastian grinned as Mike reluctantly let him go. "Here is your map. Now please don't go and try something stupid. Kurt really does have such a pretty head. I'd hate for him to lose it." And with one final smirk, Sebastian turned and walked out of the room.

Burt felt his skin go cold as he thought about his poor son, who was being held by monsters like Sebastian. He had to get him out of there, that was obvious, but he also couldn't let these outlaws get away with this.

"Mike," Burt said, turning back to the man and handing him the map. "Find out where this is and scout out the area. As soon as I get my son back, I want those bandits, dead or alive."

"Yes, Sir," Mike nodded, turning to leave and follow his orders.

"Oh and Mike?" Burt called out after him, making him stop and turn back slightly.

"Put a tail on that man, Sebastian," Burt said steadily. "In case things go sour at the trade off, I want to know where those cowards are hiding. So I want your best man on the job."

Mike smiled at the comment.

"If you want the best tracker, then I know exactly who to send," Mike grinned. "Sebastian won't know what hit him."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

When Kurt opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the lack of discomfort. Instead of pain, all he felt was a dull numbness. The second thing he noticed was that he couldn't move.

He was lying on his stomach on what appeared to be a makeshift bed. A surprisingly cool breeze blew across the bare skin of his back, making him realize that he was shirtless.

His arms were stretched out in front of him and tied down with what looked like a kind of leather strap across his upper arms. His wrists were wrapped with clean, white bandages, and Kurt found himself thankful that they had not tied him down by the tender limbs.

Testing his legs, he found that they were strapped down in a similar fashion.

"Oh, you're awake," a familiar voice said from somewhere beside him. Kurt carefully turned his head in their direction to find Jeff lying in a similar fashion on a bed across from him, minus the straps on his arms and legs.

"Jeff!" Kurt exclaimed softly. The blond gave him a small smile.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I don't hurt, if that's what you're asking," Kurt replied.

"Yeah, that's thanks to the salve they put on your back," Jeff grinned. "It does wonders for healing failure scars."

"Failure scars?" Kurt echoed, though it quickly dawned on him what Jeff had meant. Wes had said that failure would result in punishment. Jeff had failed to guard Kurt because he had tried to run away. And Jeff had to pay for Kurt's foolishness.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I didn't know they would do that to you."

"It's okay," Jeff shrugged. "I've had worse."

"Why did you do it?" Kurt asked cautiously. "Why did you take half of my punishment? On top of what you'd already gotten? Why would you do that?" A soft chuckle slipped from Jeff's lips.

"Remember what I told you the other night?" Jeff asked. "I'm not really that bad of a guy. I've made some bad choices throughout my life, but that doesn't completely make me a bad person. I knew that you wouldn't be able to handle twenty lashes and I knew that I could take an extra ten. This is not the first time I've been punished like that." He turned his back slightly to show Kurt the faded scars that mixed with the new red lines. "Yours shouldn't scar like mine have. Mine are just because they've been reopened so many times that they've just decided not to completely heal anymore. Since this is your first time, I doubt you'll even be able to see a thing in a month's time."

The mention of time caught Kurt's attention. How long had he been here? And how much longer were they going to keep him here? Had they contacted his father yet?

"How are you holding up?" a new voice drew Kurt's attention back. Nick was now sitting beside Jeff on the edge of his bed, gently brushing some of the hair out of his love's face.

"I'm doing fine," Jeff grinned. "I should be fine to get up by noon."

"Good," Nick smiled back before turning to look at Kurt. "And how are you feeling?"

"I'm alright?" Kurt replied hesitantly. "You know, all things considered."

"Good," Nick nodded. "The boss wants to see you as soon as you're strong enough to stand. Think he'll be ready by noon?" The question was directed at Jeff.

"I don't see why not," Jeff shrugged.

"Alright, well I'll go let him know then," Nick smiled, standing up. "I'll see you in a little while." The two locked eyes and smiled before Nick slowly backed out of Kurt's line of sight, out of whatever room they were in.

_I wish I had someone that smiled at me like that,_ Kurt sighed to himself. The one thing he had always wanted, more than anything in the world, was to be loved by someone. He wanted to be held and comforted when he was injured or scared. He wanted someone to brush his hair out of his face when he was lying ill in bed. He wanted somebody to love.

His mind involuntarily took him back to the memory of arms wrapping around him, soothing, comforting words being whispered in his ear, beautiful golden brown eyes...

_No!_ Kurt scolded himself. _Stop it! He tricked you! He's one of them! He doesn't care about you! All he wanted was to know how much money he could make off of you! _

_Then why did he look so concerned when he found out about your back?_ his subconscious argued. _Would he be concerned if he didn't care? _

Kurt let out a sigh, his mind muddled with confusing thoughts. He gently sunk his head down onto the pillow and closed his eyes, hoping to get a couple more hours of sleep to clear his head and prepare him to meet him, the boss, the feared leader of the Warblers.


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Yay! Another new chapter! And it's a long one again! :) Hope you guys like it! Thanks for supporting! :)  
**_

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Chapter Nine

It seemed like Kurt had only been asleep for a few seconds when he was gently woken from his slumber.

"Kurt," Jeff's voice called through his dreams. "Kurt, time to wake up!"

Kurt slowly opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times to clear his vision. He moved his hand to rub his eyes and was surprised when he was able to do so. He looked in surprise at his unbound hands before turning to look up at Jeff, who was standing over him.

"Come on," Jeff smiled. "It's time to go."

Then Kurt remembered. They were taking him to meet their boss, the leader of the Warblers.

Kurt slowly sat up and, with a sigh, extended his hands, wrists together, towards Jeff. Jeff looked at him with a puzzled expression but then realization flashed through his eyes and he laughed.

"I'm not gonna tie you up," Jeff chuckled lightly. "Your wrists still need more time to heal." Kurt slowly lowered his hands and smiled.

"Thank you," he said softly. Maybe his stay here wouldn't be so bad.

"Come on, guys, we can't keep him waiting!" Nick's voice floated through the flap of what Kurt now realized was a large tent.

"We'd better go," Jeff said quickly, reaching down and gently grabbing Kurt's arm and helping him to his feet. He didn't release his grip once Kurt was standing, but his hold was not uncomfortable.

"Can't have you running off on me again," Jeff explained as he led Kurt over towards the tent's entrance. "I don't think that my back could handle it."

Kurt knew that Jeff was just teasing him, but he still couldn't help the flash of guilt that ran through him.

"I'm sorry," Kurt said softly. "I never meant for you to get hurt."

"It's okay," Jeff shrugged as they passed through the entrance. "You didn't know."

Nick met them outside the tent, taking up his position on Kurt's other side, holding onto his arm as well. Kurt winced slightly as a stream of sunlight hit his eyes and blinked rapidly as he looked at his surroundings.

He was in another forest, and the trees tall and flourishing here. Sunlight streamed in between the trees, falling on the large settlement. Tents were pitched all around him and campfires blazed every couple of feet, pots of bubbling water or impaled animals roasting over them. Kurt stared in awe at the camp as he was led through it. There were men everywhere, sitting around campfires laughing, chopping wood, tending to horses. There were even a couple of women here and there, and Kurt could have sworn he heard a child laughing.

_This is certainly not what I was expecting a bandits' camp to look like,_ Kurt commented to himself as they passed by another group of laughing men. _They looked... happy._

Though he tried not to, Kurt couldn't help but look for the golden eyed boy, Blaine, as they walked.

_Stop it!_ Kurt scolded himself. _He tricked you! You can't trust him!_

It took them a couple of minutes to get to the center of the camp, where the largest tent was pitched.

"Here we go," he heard Jeff mumble as they came to a stop outside of the tent. Trent met them at the door.

"He's been waiting," was all he said, pulling back the tent's flap to let then through. Kurt found himself holding his breath as they pressed forward into the tent. He didn't know what to expect or who to expect. What would the Warbler leader look like? He'd heard his voice, but he had never seen him.

The first person Kurt saw when they entered the tent was a darkly skinned man. He stood with his back turned to them, looking over the papers scattered on the table in front of him. Standing very stiffly off to one side of the table was Wes, who shot Kurt a very angry glare, though Kurt could have sworn that he caught Wes wincing slightly. To the other side of the table was another man that Kurt did not recognize. He had dark brown hair and was saying something to the dark skinned man as he pointed at one of the papers on the table. He suddenly looked over and noticed them and turned towards them with a smile.

"Oh, good, you're here," he said, stepping away from the table. Kurt didn't recognize his voice, so he couldn't have been the boss. The dark skinned man also turned around, his eyes quickly meeting Kurt's.

"Governor Hummel's son," he grinned. "So nice to formally meet you."

Kurt instantly recognized his voice as being the one he'd heard when he was first brought to the camp.

_So this is the Warbler leader then?_ Kurt assumed, not breaking eye contact with him. He did not want to seem weak.

"How can we be _formally _introduced if you know my name but I don't know yours?" Kurt asked defiantly. He wanted to cross his arms to further press his defiance, but they were still being held by Jeff and Nick.

The man's eyes rose in surprise at Kurt's question but, instead of getting mad, he just laughed.

"You've got spunk, kid," he chuckled. "I'll give you that. Alright, well, then to properly introduce myself, I am David. And this is Thad," he motioned to the dark haired man beside him. "And I believe that you already know Wes."

"Yes, I do," Kurt retorted, his back stinging with agreeance. "I wish could say that it's a pleasure to meet you all, but then I'd be lying." Kurt knew that he should watch his tongue, but he couldn't help the anger that was building inside of him. They had, after all, kidnapped and beaten him and for what? Money? Kurt felt disgusted by them.

"I'd watch your tongue if I were you," Thad snapped, anger flashing through his eyes. "And show a bit of respect."

"Respect?" Kurt scoffed. "Why should I respect any of you? You _kidnapped_ me and forced to me come who knows where, all so that you could fill your filthy, rotten pockets with gold! I am not some negotiating piece that you can use to get whatever you want! I am a _human being_ and _I_ deserve to be treated with respect! Not some low life criminals!"

"Are you saying that _we _are not human then?" David growled, now becoming angry as well. "That we do not deserve equal respect because we are forced to do what we must to survive? And you say that you are not treated with respect? Ungrateful brat! We could have left you in that pit, let your wounds become infected, but we didn't! Now how about you show some respect for that!"

Kurt did feel a little bit guilty. They had, for the most part, been treating him very well here, a lot better than what he had imagined when he thought about being kidnapped by bandits. Kurt was about to open his mouth to utter an apology, when the tent flap moved and Trent stepped inside.

"Sir, Sebastian has returned," he announced. Kurt instantly tensed up at the mention of his name.

"Good," David smiled. "Send him in." Trent nodded and moved back out side, Sebastian soon taking his place inside. Sebastian looked at Kurt as he passed by, grinning wickedly as his eyes roamed up and down his body, making Kurt feel very uncomfortable, before stopping in front of the table. Sebastian tilted his head respectively to each of the three men before raising his gaze to look at David.

"What news have you, Bas?" David asked.

"Hummel has agreed to our terms," Sebastian announced, which made Kurt relax slightly. If his father had agreed to pay the ransom, then that meant that he would be out of here and home soon.

"But," Sebastian continued. "There was a slight... _complication_."

"Oh?" David tilted his head questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"Hummel broke his word," Sebastian said, making Kurt's heart sink. "He sent someone to follow me, thought I wouldn't notice." He chuckled lightly, but stopped when he noticed the anger flashing through David's eyes.

"And?" David said, gesturing for him to continue.

"And I caught her," Sebastian continued. "It was easy. Once I hit one of the checkpoints, I signaled the guards there that I was being followed and we ambushed her. Simple as that."

"Her?" David raised a questioning eyebrow. "Hummel sent a woman to follow you?"

"I don't know why," Sebastian shrugged. "Maybe he thought I wouldn't suspect a woman of following me. But it's kind of hard not to notice when you're traveling through an area that _no one_ goes through."

"So what did you do with her?" David asked.

"I brought her back with me," Sebastian answered. "I thought that it was best if the Council dealt with her."

_The Council? What's that? _Kurt wondered as he watched the procession before him.

"Good," David smiled. "Send for someone to bring her here."

"Already done," Sebastian said, nodding to one of the guards at the entrance. They pulled back the flaps and two more men entered, dragging someone between them. Even though her long, dark hair fell down in front of her face, but Kurt instantly recognized her. How could he not? She not only worked for his father. She was also his friend.

"Tina," he whispered under his breath, watching her with worried eyes as they dragged her before David. Sebastian grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back hard. A muffled gasp slipped out from behind the gag shown on her now exposed face. Kurt couldn't help but feel for his small, Asian friend.

"I warned Hummel about what would happen if he were to have me followed, but I guess that he doesn't care about his _son_ that much if he's willing to risk his safety like that," Sebastian grinned, casting a glance over at Kurt. "But since he broke his word, maybe instead of killing him, maybe you would be so kind as to let me take him." Kurt definitely did not like the way that Sebastian was looking at him. "After all, Hummel broke his word, so why should we keep ours? Or, if you still want to trade him back, perhaps it would be okay now if he's a little more _roughed up_ than he was before. I would be-"

"That's _enough_, Sebastian!" a familiar voice growled from the back of the room. Kurt whipped his head around to see Blaine stepping out from the shadows where he had been hidden. "You are _never_ to touch him, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Sebastian replied bitterly, hanging his head.

"Good," Blaine smiled, moving over to stand before Kurt. "Now though I agree that Hummel should learn not to cross us, I have a better idea of how to go about doing so." He turned to look up at David and as he did so, Kurt couldn't help but notice the nice curve that his butt had.

_Stop it!_ Kurt scolded himself. _You can't think like that about him!_

"We will still meet Hummel at the trade off site, but we will have an extra surprise waiting there for him," Blaine announced, casting a glance over at Tina. "Take her to the pit for now. Tomorrow, we will start our trek to the meeting spot. We wouldn't want to be late to meet the Governor, now would we?" He flashed a grin that almost would have been dazzling if it didn't hold a hint of mischief.

"Now as for Hummel's son," he said, turning back to Kurt. "I believe that his wounds are still healing, so he will be returned to the infirmary until tomorrow. I want him to be rested up and ready to ride in the morning." Kurt inwardly groaned as he thought about sitting in those sore saddles again.

"Early curfew tonight, boys," Blaine continued, turning away from Kurt and moving up to the table, on the opposite side of David. "We've got an early morning tomorrow and I want you all to be rested up. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," all of the men in the room chorused together.

It was then that it hit Kurt. They all referred to Blaine as Sir. And Jeff had told him that you only called those superior to you Sir. _David_ had called Blaine Sir. So that meant that David wasn't the boss.

Blaine was.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Happy Glee Day! I cannot wait for tonight's episode! :D And, for those of you who are StarKid fans, AVPSY COMES OUT TOMORROW! I'm seriously freaking out right now! Best week ever! And now, prepare yourselves for a pretty intense chapter! :)  
_**

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Chapter Ten

Burt Hummel could not stop his hands from shaking. Whether it was from fear or anger, he wasn't really sure. He was angry at those filthy bandits, the Warblers, for kidnapping his son, doing who knows what to him. At the same time, he was afraid of what they could be doing to him. He didn't like the look in that one bandit's eyes, Sebastian, when he talked about Kurt. There was lust and desire flaming through them.

_I swear to God, if he touches even a __**hair **__on my son's head, _Burt growled to himself. _**I will kill him.**_

"Sir, the rendezvous is just up ahead," Mike's voice broke through his thoughts. Burt looked over at him and nodded, spurring his horse over closer to him.

"Are the men all in place?" Burt asked, referring to the men assigned to ambush the bandits once they got his son back.

"Yes, Sir," Mike nodded. "I sent them out last night. They should be ready and waiting in position as we speak. Actually, we should be meeting up with Karofsky soon..." Karofsky was the head of the muscle team, which Burt used when dealing with especially dangerous criminals that they wished to detain.

As they passed over the next dune, they were able to see the canyons where the map would lead them to. They were to make the exchange at the entrance to the canyon. The bandits probably thought that they would be able to make a quick get away by escaping through the canyons, but little did they know that Burt would already have men waiting in there for them. Burt couldn't help but smile with pleasure as he thought about how shocked and surprised those bandits' faces would look when they realized that they had no way out.

But that smile quickly faded as they passed over one of the final dunes. There, sitting in the middle of the sand, were his men, all six of them, trussed up and gagged. Mike quickly spurred ahead, dropping down off his horse and pulling the gag from Karofsky's mouth.

"What happened?" he asked as Burt quickly drew his horse up beside them. Karofsky looked down in shame.

"We were out numbered," he told them. "They ambushed our ambush. And now they're waiting for you by the canyon." Burt's eyes flashed with anger as he looked towards the canyon. He quickly rode up to the top of the last dune and stared off at the canyon. There, lying at the entrance, was a body.

"Kurt!" Burt yelled, quickly spurring his horse forward. He could hear the horses of his men quickly following behind him. The body on the ground was so still.

_Please, be okay,_ Burt pleaded, never taking his eyes off the still form. That is, he didn't until the arrows rained down in front of them, stopping them cold. Burt looked up to see many dark forms spread across the upper ledges of the canyon, all holding nocked bows that were trained on them.

"You broke your word," a voice called out, echoing against the canyon walls loudly. Burt's eyes immediately shot up to the man the voice had come from. His dark hair was slicked back, accentuating the black mask secured across his eyes. He stood slightly apart from the other men, his arms crossed unhappily over his chest.

"How did I break my word?" Burt called back defiantly. "There was no agreeance that I could not bring my men with me, or send them ahead of me to secure the grounds."

"I don't care about your petty excuse for an ambush," the man smirked. "Do you take us for fools? Falling for something like that? But no, that is not what I'm referring to. That," he pointed down at the body lying on the ground. "Is what I'm talking about. You were warned what would happen if Sebastian was followed."

"Tina!" Burt heard Mike exclaimed from beside him. "What did you do to her?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?" the man laughed, gesturing at the body again. Without a second thought, Mike quickly spurred forward, towards the body. Burt cautiously followed, his eyes watching the bandits warily.

Mike quickly jumped down off his horse, carefully pulling the sac that had hid their identity off of the person's head to reveal an Asian woman with long, dark hair. Her hands were bound roughly in front of her and a gag was tied tightly against her lips. Her eyes were closed and she did not move, even when Mike gently moved her head onto his lap.

"Tina!" Mike cried, pulling the gag from her mouth. "Tina, please, Baby, wake up!" Burt could hear the tears cracking in Mike's voice.

"She's not dead," the bandit said nonchalantly, as if he could care less. Burt turned away from Mike and Tina to look up at him.

"Where's my son?!" he growled, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. A part of him was relieved that the body hadn't been Kurt, but, at the same time, he was worried about where Kurt was then.

The bandit smiled and turned away, snapping his fingers at someone out of sight, and suddenly, Kurt was being lead out into his line of sight.

"Kurt!" Burt called out, his heart nearly breaking when he saw his son being handled so roughly by these men. If Kurt had wanted to try to look at his father or at least call out to him, he wouldn't be able to as they had blindfolded him as well gagged him. He struggled against his captors, but to no avail. The bandit, whom Burt had now summarized was most likely their leader, grabbed Kurt's hands, which were tied in front of him, and pulled him to his side.

"Here he is, still alive and breathing!" the leader laughed, his hand encircling the back of Kurt's neck, making him flinch. Burt could feel the anger boiling in his chest as he watched the bandit's actions.

"Don't touch him!" Burt yelled at him. All that did was make the bandit smile.

"Where's the money, Hummel?" the man asked, not letting go of his hold on Kurt. Burt growled unhappily, but signaled one of his men over, who carried the sack of gold coins. He had never thought that he would actually have to turn the money over to them, but he would do whatever he had to to get Kurt back.

"Here it is," he said, holding up the sac. "Now give me my son back!"

"You're in no position to be making demands," the man laughed. "Now put the sac in that bucket by the wall. But looked over to see that there was indeed at bucket by the wall, attached to a long rope that dropped down from the ledge that the bandits were standing on.

"No, give me my son first," Burt argued, gripping the sac tightly.

"Again, you're in no position to be making demands," the bandit growled, suddenly squeezing Kurt's neck and making him omit a strangled cry through the gag. Burt's heart seized up in his chest as he quickly slid off his horse and dropped the sac into the bucket. The man smiled, lightening his grip on Kurt's neck once Burt did so.

"Now, was that so hard?" he grinned as the bucket was drawn up to them. Once the bucket reached them, the bandit stuck his hand into the bag, and clutched a handful of coins, a satisfied grin flickering across his lips as he let the coins slip through his fingers and fall back into the sac.

"There, you have your money," Burt stated. "Now give me back my son!"

"I am a man of my word," the bandit nodded, looking back down at Burt again. He swiftly pulled out a knife, moving it carefully towards Kurt's bound hands, when he suddenly stopped and moved it up to Kurt's throat instead.

"What are you doing?!" Burt roared.

"Like I said," the bandit grinned. "I am a man of my word. I warned you of what would happen if Sebastian was followed. Foolish move, Governor. It cost you your son." The bandit suddenly drew the knife along Kurt's neck, making crimson blood stream down his skin. Burt was barely able to distinguish that it was his own voice screaming as the bandit let go of Kurt and let him slump lifelessly to the ground.

The bandit looked at the red liquid dripping from his knife and grinned. He then chucked the blade down at Burt, the weapon sinking into the ground a few feet in front of him.

"His blood is on your hands, Hummel," the bandit declared. "I'd suggest that you think twice the next time that you try to mess with us." He started to turn away but then stopped and turned back to look down at Burt again.

"And you know what?" he grinned suddenly. "Since you thought to try to ambush us, I won't even give you consolidation of having your son's body. Good luck searching the rivers!"

And with that, he turned away, the bandits near him quickly moving in to pick up Kurt's lifeless body and take it away.

"I will find you!" Burt screamed at the now empty ledge. "I will find you and I will kill you!"

The bandit suddenly appeared on the ledge again, crouching down near the edge to peer down at him.

"Good luck with that!" he chuckled, waving his hand in a taunting manner before he disappeared again for the last time.

_No,_ Burt decided coldly, his heart lacing over with ice. _Not for the last time. I __**will**__ find him. And I __**will**__ make him pay. _

A flash of light in his eyes made Burt look at the object glinting on the ground. The dagger. Burt quickly moved over to it and grasped the handle in his hand, swiftly pulling it out of the ground and staring at the sand covered blood sticking to the blade.

_I swear on the blood of my son that I will find you,_ he glanced up at the empty ledge again. _I will find you and I will __**kill**__ you. _


	11. Chapter 11

**_Happy Easter Sunday! I hope that you all have had a wonderful weekend :) Sorry for the delay on this story. Been crazy at school lately. Heading into final 2 weeks then exams then I'm done! Forever! Woohoo! :D Now some of you have been asking for this for a while, so we're gonna take a slight jump back in time and see the story from Blaine's POV. The chapter after this will also be Blaine's POV and it will give some more answers, like as to what happened to Kurt. Is he alive or is he really dead? That and more will be revealed in the next chapter. But, for now, please enjoy the thoughts and feelings of one Blaine Devon Anderson :) _**

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Chapter Eleven

The moment that Blaine first set eyes on Kurt, he knew that he was special. He had watched them lower Kurt into the pit where he sat waiting, deciding to take it upon himself to disguise himself as a fellow prisoner to gain Kurt's trust and get him to talk. His Council had not wanted him to do this, but Blaine had wanted to, and whatever Blaine wanted, he got.

As soon as Kurt's feet brushed against the ground, they dropped him, making the boy collapse to the ground with a hard thud. Blaine subconsciously winced as the boy fell, a wave of pity washing over him as the boy ripped his gag from his mouth and let out a quiet sob.

_Stop that!_ Blaine reprimanded himself. _He's just a prisoner, a spoiled brat of the Governor. He's probably just upset that he's getting his clothes dirty._

Blaine waited for a minute for the boy to move, to look around, but he remained curled up on the ground, sobbing quietly to himself.

_Ok,_ Blaine smiled, stepping forward. _It's show time!_

"Hey," he called out, making his voice sound soft and kind. The boy looked up, but wasn't able to see him due to the blindfold. Blaine watched as he started to reach for it, but quickly knelt down and took it off for him.

And then he saw those eyes.

Those _beautiful_ blue eyes. No, not blue... but at the same time, yes. They were so much more than just plain, old blue. They were beautiful. They were _magical_.

_Focus, Blaine! _he snapped himself out of his daze.

"Are you okay?" he asked, watching as Kurt's mouth opened and closed with no words coming out. He looked like a fish out of water and Blaine couldn't help but find himself wanting to chuckle, though he held it in and gave him a friendly smile instead.

"I'm Blaine," he told him. "What's your name?"

"K-Kurt," the boy stuttered. No, not boy. Now that he saw him up close, Kurt looked like he could be as old as Blaine was.

"That's a nice name," Blaine smiled, truly meaning it. "Do you have a last name, Kurt?"

Without waiting a second, Kurt nodded and said, "Hummel."

_Perfect,_ Blaine grinned internally as he let his eyes widen with a mock surprise.

"Hummel as in Governor Hummel Hummel?" he asked, raising his eyebrows inquisitively.

"Y-Yes," Kurt nodded again. "I-I'm his son."

Now it was time to put his acting abilities into full effect.

"Is he coming for you?" Blaine asked eagerly, suddenly grabbing Kurt by the shoulders. "Is he coming to rescue you?"

"No," Kurt shook his head sadly. "He doesn't know where I am. I don't even know where I am." Blaine let out a heavy, disappointed sigh as he let go of Kurt and fell back onto his bottom, though he was smiling internally.

_Good, _he thought. _That means he won't find us. Now, I wonder how much __**daddy dearest**__ would be willing to get back this gorgeous man- No! Blaine, stop that! He's your __**prisoner**__, nothing more!_

Getting back into his acting, Blaine let tears roll down his cheek.

"I thought that maybe I finally had a chance of getting out of here," he whispered softly. "I'm never going to get out of here!"

"Yes, you will," Kurt said, taking the bait as he crawled over to Blaine. He suddenly wrapped his arms around Blaine, which startled Blaine immensely. He hadn't expected this. He also hadn't expected the strange feelings that he suddenly got. Luckily, Blaine was _very_ good at hiding his true emotions.

"When I get home, I'll get my dad to pay whatever ransom these men want for you," Kurt promised. Those were the words that Blaine wanted to hear. Governor Hummel would be willing to pay _whatever_ they asked for. Blaine could already feel the gold in his hands... Hands, warm hands, holding him close to a warm body...

_No!_ Blaine snapped himself out of it as he pulled away from Kurt and looked up at him, trying to focus on what he was supposed to be doing.

"You'd do that? For me?" he sniffed. "How do you know he'll do it?"

"My dad loves me," Kurt replied, smiling slightly. He had a cute smile. "He'd do anything to make sure that I get home safe and if I tell him that I have a friend still trapped here, he'd do whatever he could to get you back safely too."

There it was. The final solidification that this plan would work. A father would do _anything_ and pay _anything _to get back the son he loves.

"Thanks, Kurt," Blaine smiled. "You have no idea how much your words mean to me."

He couldn't resist. He suddenly threw his arms around Kurt in a hug, partly because he felt that his character would do that, but also partly because he wanted to. He could never admit it to anyone, but Blaine could already feeling himself becoming attached to this dazzling eyed man. He wanted to hold on to him and _never_ let him go.

But as his arms touched Kurt's back, Kurt suddenly let out a heartbreaking cry of pain. Blaine quickly pulled away, allowing his true feelings of shock and worry slip out.

"What's wrong?" he asked, worry lacing his voice. "What did I do?"

Kurt took a deep breath, as if attempting to control the pain that he was obviously in, before replying.

"It's not your fault," he said, turning slightly to show Blaine his back. "I tried to run and was caught." Blaine sucked in a hard, sharp breath as he saw Kurt's back. It was littered with thick, red welts and it did not even take Blaine two seconds to realize what they were from. Everyone knew what the punishment for disobedience or failure was here.

"They look worse than they actually are," Kurt said, trying to play it off as if it were no big deal. It took Blaine a second to realize that Kurt was trying to calm him. "I was supposed to get twenty but only got ten."

_Twenty?_ Blaine screamed inwardly. _They wanted to mar his beautiful skin twenty times?!_

"Who did this to you?" he asked, his voice low and full of rage as Kurt turned back to look at him.

"Blaine, it's fine-" Kurt started to say.

"Who did this to you?!" Blaine repeated, his voice rising as he cut Kurt off. He would not tolerate this... this _abomination_!

"T-The leader," Kurt replied, his eyes widening in surprise at Blaine's reaction. "W-Wes."

Blaine instantly recognized the name. Wes was one of his higher ups in command, one who sometimes took advantage of the power that he had over those beneath him. Blaine had usually let Wes get away with things like this, but not this time. He leapt to his feet and crossed over to the side of the pit where the trap door was.

"Let me out!" he yelled at the guards above.

"Blaine, I don't think that-" Kurt started to say, foolishly still believing that Blaine was a prisoner like him. But he wasn't. He was the most _powerful _man in this camp!

The trap door at the top suddenly opened, silencing Kurt as a rope dropped down. Blaine slid his foot into the loop at the bottom, his hand locking securely above a knot halfway up the rope before he gave the rope a short, hard tug. Remembering who he was leaving, he quickly turned back to Kurt and forced a smile onto his face.

"Thank you so much for your help, Kurt Hummel," he grinned, giving Kurt a mock bow. "It was greatly appreciated." He was then lifted out of the pit before Kurt could utter another word. The second he got out, he grabbed the nearest guard and pulled him close to his face.

"Send Wes to me," he growled lowly, suddenly releasing the man and storming away, back to his tent.

It did not take long for Wes to arrive. When Blaine gave an order, it was followed. _Immediately_.

"You called for me, Sir?" Wes asked, lowering his head submissively to Blaine.

"You beat our prisoner?" Blaine asked in a low voice, instantly telling the man standing before him that he was unhappy.

"H-He tried to escape," Wes explained, fidgeting anxiously. "I had to teach him a lesson. He _should_ have gotten the full twenty if Jeff hadn't-"

"Jeff?" Blaine attention caught on the name. Jeff was one of his closest friends and one of the few people that he completely trusted.

"Yes, Sir," Wes continued hesitantly. "I had placed him in charge of the prisoner. When he escaped, Jeff was punished as well for allowing him to escape. But instead of just taking his twenty lashes as punishment, he begged me to give him the prisoner's punishment as well. I could not give him the full twenty as the prisoner needed to be taught a lesson, so I only gave him ten extra. The other ten were given to the prisoner."

"And you saw it fit to beat the prisoner without _my_ consent?" Blaine snapped. "If he is to be taught a lesson, it will be by me or whoever I instruct to, and in _my_ camp, under _my_ supervision! This was not your decision to make!"

"Forgive me, Sir," Wes kept his head low in submission, but his words were tight and forced.

"You have disappointed me, Wes," Blaine sighed, signaling to the guards standing by the door, who promptly moved forward and grabbed a startled Wes by the arms. "And I see disappointment as a type of failure. And we all know what failure means." He turned to look at one of the guards. "Twenty lashes, plus ten, so that he will know what it means to take someone else's burdens upon themself." He waved them away, dragging a protesting Wes behind them, before gesturing to another guard.

"Where is Jeff?" he asked, calming himself after having to deal with Wes.

"He is in the infirmary, Sir," the man told him.

"Good," Blaine nodded. "Have them bring the prisoner there as well and tend to his wounds. His body is not as used to our type of punishment as we are."

_His beautiful body, with his pale skin..._ Blaine shook his head, trying to push those thoughts away. He couldn't think like that about the prisoner.

"And one more thing," Blaine said as he moved over to the table and picked up a piece of paper. "Send me Sebastian." Again, Blaine's orders were followed immediately without question.

To say that Sebastian arrived instantly was not an exaggeration. It was almost as if he had been waiting for Blaine to summon him.

"Sir," he lowered his head in a slight bow as he entered the tent. "You called for me?" Blaine did not miss the seductive tone to Sebastian's voice.

"I know what you're thinking, Bas," Blaine sighed, looking up from the table where he had been writing. "And it's _not_ going to happen. I called you in here for a different reason. I want you to deliver a message to Governor Hummel."

"Forgive me for asking, but why me?" Sebastian asked, a little put off.

"You're one of my fastest riders," Blaine explained as he finished writing the ransom note for the Governor. He left it on the table for a moment to let the ink dry as he walked over to a chest and pulled it open. Inside were multiple different sized scrolls. He quickly picked the one he wanted and handed it to Sebastian along with the ransom note.

"If he agrees to the terms on this, then give him the map as well," Blaine told him, ignoring the way Sebastian's eyes rolled over him. "On it is the location of the exchange of where he'll get his son back. That is, as long as he complies with all of our demands and you are not followed."

"And if I am?" Sebastian asked curiously.

"We will cross that bridge when we get to it," Blaine replied dismissively. "Now go. You have a long journey ahead of you."

Sebastian gave him a low bow before exiting the tent. Blaine let out a heavy sigh of relief as the other man left without argument. Sebastian could be quite a handful at times, so he had to be kept on a tight leash. He'd heard rumours of things that Sebastian had done on raids, but no one had come forward to confirm that they were true, so he could do nothing about it. But it was definitely no secret that Sebastian was not shy about his wants. If he wanted something, he would not give up until he got it.

_He was in the raid group that brought back Kurt,_ he suddenly remembered, feeling slightly queasy. _What if he tried something with Kurt?_

_Why should you care?_ his realistic side reprimanded him. _He's just a prisoner. Once the exchange goes down, you'll never see him again. He won't be your problem anymore._

"No," Blaine whispered silently to himself. "He'll become an even _bigger_ problem."

Blaine shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Why could he not stop thinking about Kurt? He was just a spoiled brat, whose father would probably buy him whatever he wanted. Rich and privileged, having a life which Blaine had been denied. No, he could not think about Kurt fondly. Kurt was just like all of those condescending, judgmental people who looked down at them like common criminals.

_If only they knew the truth about us,_ he sighed. _All they see us as are filthy, bad people, crooks, people to be afraid of. How did it come to this? Why did this have to happen to me?_

"I need to clear my head," he said out loud, half to himself and half to whoever could be listening. He quickly strode out of his tent, waving away the guards who were about to follow him. He just wanted to be alone.

Blaine walked around the camp, watching his people go about their daily lives. _His_ people. _He _was their leader. Women looked up from where they were hanging their laundry and waved at him. Children whizzed past him, laughing as they chased each other around the tents. Something hard suddenly bumped into his leg. Blaine turned to find a little girl on the ground, clutching her knee to her chest. There were tears in her eyes.

"Hey, it's okay," he said, crouching down so that he was at her level. "Don't cry. Here, let me see." He gestured towards her knee and, after a moment, she reluctantly removed her hands and exposed her knee for him to see. There was a small, red cut on it.

"Aw, that's not too bad," he smiled encouragingly. "Put a little bandage over that and you're good to go!"

The little girl smile hesitantly, then extended her arms towards him, signaling that she wanted him to pick her up. This action surprised Blaine at first, but he quickly covered his shock with a smile as he picked her up.

"Let's go get you that bandage, yeah?" he smiled at her as he held her in his arms. She nodded as she snuggled into his arms. A warm feeling suddenly washed over Blaine and he remembered why he did what he did. He did it for _them_. For the women and children, who had no where else to go. He gave them a new life, a chance to start over. He did it so that girl's like this one would live to see past six years old.

Feeling reassured and rejuvenated, Blaine carefully made his way to the infirmary, pushing back the flaps and entering the large tent without a second thought.

"Marie, have you got any bandage we could have?" he called out as he entered.

"There's one in the kit at the back," she replied from somewhere. Blaine didn't bother to look for her as he knew that she was probably already busy and he could get what he needed on his own. He quickly made his way to the back of the tent where he found the implied kit. He gently set the girl down on a nearby bed and then opened the kit and pulled out a roll of bandage. With careful fingers, he gently wrapped the bandage around her knee, pulling it tightly enough that it would stay, but not too tight that it would hurt.

"There, how does that feel?" Blaine asked, smiling up at the little girl. She gave him a wide smile, revealing her missing two front teeth, before throwing her arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you!" she said before letting go and jumping down off the bed. She skipped happily out of the tent, completely forgetting about her sore knee. Blaine couldn't help but laugh at the adorable innocence of childhood.

"You're really good with kids, you know that?" a voice suddenly commented, making Blaine tense up. Around his men, he was meant to be seen as a tough, strong leader, not tenderhearted. Blaine quickly spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice, instantly relaxing when he realized who it was.

"Jeff," he smiled, walking over to where the boy was lying on a bed. He was on his stomach, his back wrapped in bandages. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright, all things considered," Jeff shrugged, wincing slightly at the pull on his wounds.

"I heard about what you did," Blaine said, moving closer to the bed. "Taking the boy's punishment for him. I-"

"Before you get mad at me, please understand why I did it," Jeff cut him off quickly. "He was scared. He saw an opportunity to get away, so he took it. Anyone would have done the same thing if they had been in his position. And I knew that he wouldn't be able to handle the twenty lashes that Wes had wanted to give him. He's one of those... sensitive type. I mean, his skin is like perfect, like as if it's never been touched by anything and I-"

"Jeff!" Blaine cut him off with a light chuckle. "I'm not mad. I'm actually the opposite. I'm _glad_ that you did that. Well, not glad that you had to be punished like that, but glad that you were willing to do that for Kurt. He is way to pretty to be marked up like that."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say that somebody has a crush," Jeff teased lightly, making Blaine blush. Jeff had been Blaine's friend for years, since before he had formed the Warblers. Jeff was one of the few people who could see through any of the guises that Blaine put up.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Blaine bluffed, even though he knew that Jeff would see right through him.

"Uh huh, sure," Jeff smirked. "I'm sure that _Kurt_ definitely isn't your type." He motioned to something behind Blaine, making him turn. And there, lying on the bed across from Jeff, was Kurt.

"Kurt," he breathed, taking in the still, sleeping form. He was lying in the same position as Jeff, on his stomach, with bandages wrapped around his back. His arms were extended in front of him, strapped down to the bed in an identical fashion to how his legs were. There were more bandages around his wrists. He quickly knelt down by his side and gently touched the bandages, making Kurt flinch slightly. Blaine jumped back, thinking that he had woken Kurt, but the pale boy did not move again.

"You care about him," Jeff commented, making Blaine sigh.

"I don't know why," Blaine admitted. "I just met him. I _tricked_ him. He probably hates me by now."

"He'd get over it," Jeff shrugged. "I helped kidnap him, but we sort of became friends on our way back here. It's too bad that we have to give him back though. He really is a cool guy."

_Yes, that is too bad..._ Blaine thought to himself with a frown. _But I can't just __**keep**__ him. The others are expecting to get money from this exchange. I just wish that there was a way to get both..._

_No!_ Blaine shook his head. _I need to stop thinking like that! Our lives are too different! He doesn't belong here just as much as I don't belong in his world. It's time to let go and move on._

Blaine stood up abruptly and turned back to Jeff.

"Tell no one that I was here," he said, glancing over at the tent entrance. "No one. Especially not _him_."

"Why?" Jeff asked, puzzled.

"Please, just don't question me," Blaine sighed, running his fingers back through his curls. "Just respect my wishes."

"As you wish, _Sir_," Jeff nodded slowly. He did not say it with arrogance, but the way that he said it still kind of hurt Blaine.

"I'll come check on you later," Blaine said softly before quickly ducking back out of the tent. He heard Jeff call out a soft goodbye as he moved away from the tent and headed back to his own.

Later that night, Blaine fell into a restless sleep in which his dreams were haunted by a pair of sparkling blue grey eyes and a voice that sent chills running up and down his spine. It did not matter if Blaine was awake or asleep, Kurt Hummel _never _left his mind.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: First and foremost, I would like to apologize on the long delay. I just went through a period where I was just uninspired for some reason, but now I am back and ready to take this on full force! You can **_**_expect more updates to come soon! Thank you for your patience and understanding. I hope you like it ;)_**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Blaine was awake early the next day. He felt a strange urge to return to the infirmary to check on Kurt, but he withheld himself from doing so. This was crazy. Kurt was his _prisoner_! His thoughts should not be so consumed by one random, spoiled rich kid!

_But he's not random,_ he thought to himself. _He's Kurt._

Blaine tried to distract himself by walking through the camp again. He passed Wes as he walked, who lowered his head respectfully to him, though Blaine was sure that he caught a bit of anger in Wes' eyes.

_He's just mad that I made him have to get lashing,_ Blaine sighed. _But he'll get over it. He deserved it and he'll come to realize that. He needs to learn that he can't just do whatever he wants. There has to be consequences. _

"Someone's lost in thought," a familiar voice commented with a light chuckle. Blaine looked up in surprise to find his friend Nick sitting on a log a couple of steps away. He had a playful, teasing smile on his lips as he looked up at Blaine, one that made Blaine smile as well.

"You know me," he chuckled. "I've always got something on my mind."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with a certain prisoner, would it?" Nick grinned, raising his eyebrows playfully.

"Can Jeff _never_ keep his mouth shut?" Blaine exclaimed. "I told him not to tell anyone!"

"No, you told him not to tell anyone that you were at the infirmary," Nick countered as he stood up. "And anyways, I'm not just anyone. Me and Jeff tell each other _everything_. There are no secrets between us. That's how we make our relationship work so well."

"Yeah, well, some of us don't have that _luxury_," Blaine sighed. He paused a moment before continuing. "How are they?"

"Kurt's still out," Nick shrugged. "I guess it's because he's not used to roughing out here like we are, plus the fact that his body's trying to heal itself. But Jeff's doing pretty good. I'm actually about to go check on them again. Want to come with me?"

"No," Blaine quickly shook his head. "I don't want to be there if he's awake. I'm probably not his most favourite person right now, seeing as how I tricked him. But we should figure out what to do with him until Bas gets back with the Governor's answer. I guess that once he's strong enough to stand, he should be brought before the Council. I want to see what their opinion is on this. I fear that mine might be a bit too clouded at the moment... Perhaps by noon? If he's strong enough, that is."

"I will go consult with my better half," Nick grinned, giving Blaine a slight nod. "He'll know if our special prisoner will be ready for then."

"Alright, well, let me know either way," Blaine nodded, his thoughts drifting away again. Nick noticed the subtle dismissal and gave Blaine a slight bow before turning and heading off towards the infirmary.

Blaine remained where he was for a few minutes, lost in thought. He desperately hoped that Kurt was doing better today, hopefully even well enough to be able to stand and come before the Council. Though he had just seen the man the day before, Blaine was desperate to see him again.

But he could just not understand why.

_Why can't I get him out of my mind?_ Blaine wondered. _Jeff said that I cared about him... but why? He's no one to me, just another ransom. So then why did it upset me so much that Wes had him whipped? That his skin was marred? Why did his cry of pain break my heart? And why can't I stop thinking about him?_

"Wow, when you get lost in thought, you _really _get _lost in thought_!" Nick's voice chuckled behind him. Blaine quickly spun around, snapping out of his thoughts once again.

"You've really been standing there the whole time I've been gone?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Blaine blinked with surprise. How long had Nick been gone?

"You're back already?" he asked. Nick just chuckled.

"I've been gone for almost an hour!" Nick exclaimed. "And almost half of that time was spent looking around for _you_!" Blaine had to force himself not to blush.

"Well, what did Jeff say?" Blaine asked, trying to change the subject. Nick just rolled his eyes as he answered Blaine's question.

"Jeff says that Kurt will be good to go by noon," Nick replied. "He'll still be a bit stiff, but he's healing really well. Marie definitely knows her stuff!"

"Good," Blaine nodded. "I guess that I should inform the Council that he will be visiting us soon then."

"Yes, you probably should," Nick chuckled. "Since it's almost noon."

"Sheesh! Where does the time go?!" Blaine exclaimed, quickly turning to head towards the Council's tent.

"Maybe if you stopped getting so lost in thought about a certain someone..." Nick called out after him.

"Shut it, Nick," Blaine retorted, not turning around. "Unless you want a view of the inside of the pit!"

The remark came out harsher than Blaine intended for it to, but he knew that Nick wouldn't take it to heart.

_If need be, I'll apologize to him later,_ Blaine decided as he made his way to the large tent in the middle of the camp. Trent was stationed by the entrance today, and he eagerly pushed the flaps back for Blaine to pass through. Trent was one of those men who desperately wanted to raise his stature in the camp, doing whatever he could to please and impress those above him.

"Trent," he nodded to the man as he passed through the entrance. Trent lowered his head respectfully in return.

"Look who finally decided to join us!" a tall, dark skinned man exclaimed as he stepped into the tent.

"I had other matters to attend to, David," Blaine quipped. "Just as we do now." Blaine quickly strode over to the large table in the middle of the room. On it was a large map of the area.

"Bas should be returning any time now with Hummel's answer," Blaine said as his eyes rolled over the map. "If he agrees to our terms, then we will be meeting him here." He pointed to a spot on the map marked as canyons. "Obviously, we're going to take the higher ground so that they can't get an advantage over us. I think we all know that Hummel will try to ambush us if he can."

"Yes, _we_ already discussed this while you were off doing who knows what," Wes' voice injected.

"Good," Blaine smiled at him sweetly. "It's good to see that you _can_ function properly without me there to help you. Now," he turned back to David and Thad, the final member of the Council. "Hummel's son will be coming here shortly. We have to decide what to do with him in case something goes wrong with Bas."

"I say that if Hummel doesn't agree or if Bas is captured, that we blindfold the kid, strap him to a horse and send him off into the desert," Wes suggested. "We have no use for him otherwise."

"Wes, we are still _human_!" Blaine snapped. "You wouldn't even be giving him a fighting chance!"

"And since when did you care about what happens to the prisoners?" Wes remarked. "If I remember correctly, you never had a problem with what we did to that Crawford kid!"

"I didn't _know_ about that until after it was done!" Blaine growled. "Something else which you did without _my _permission."

"Blaine, settle!" David tried to calm him. "We all agreed that he knew too much to be allowed to live, especially after he almost killed Cameron the last time he tried to escape! He was a danger to all of us! It _had_ to be done!"

"It's still not right!" Blaine exclaimed. "This was _not _why we started the Warblers!"

"Things change," Thad said softly. "To survive, we've had to adapt."

"But must we lose ourselves in the process?" Blaine whispered softly. The whole tent fell silent at his comment. The Warblers were not what they once had been. But it was society that caused them to change. It was society that _forced _them to change.

"We won't lose who we are," David said softly after a moment. "Not as long as we have you. You've always been the one to help keep up clear headed when things get chaotic. Whatever you decide that we should do with the Hummel kid, should we need to do anything but return him, I will support you wholeheartedly."

"Thank you, David," Blaine nodded to his gratefully. Out of the three Council members, Blaine felt that he could trust David the most. Wes used to be the one he would go to, but things had changed between them since their little band was formed, things that couldn't be fixed.

"As will I," Thad, the quieter one of the three, spoke up after another moment. Blaine nodded his thanks to him as well, turning his attention now onto Wes. Wes frowned but reluctantly nodded.

"Your word will always be honoured," he said, his voice softening only slightly. Blaine gave him a thankful nod as well.

Turning away from the table, Blaine spotted a chair sitting back in the back of the room. His legs took that moment to start to ache, reminding him that he'd been on his feet all day.

"David, why don't you take the lead on the talk with Hummel's son?" Blaine suggested, turning back to them. "I'd like to see how you'd handle the situation."

"I would be honoured to, Sir," David smiled proudly. Usually Blaine would be the one to take the lead on dealing with the more important decisions, but Blaine was afraid to take charge on this one. Afraid, because he couldn't get those beautiful, glasz eyes out of this thoughts. Afraid, because his emotions might get the best of him if he had to look Kurt in the eyes again after he had betrayed him.

_Because that's what I did,_ he thought with a sigh. _I betrayed Kurt's trust by tricking him._

"Until he arrives though," Blaine said, shaking away his unpleasant thoughts. "Why don't we go over the plan for the trade off?"

As the other men turned back to the map on the table, Blaine retired himself to the chair that he had spotted a moment ago.

"I think that it would be best to position ourselves just outside of the canyons," David pointed out, motioning towards a spot on the map. "That way, in case anything goes wrong, we'll be able to get out quickly, rather than chance getting trapped in those stone caverns."

"But wouldn't it be wiser to be deeper in?" Wes argued. "That way, we'd know that are backs are protected from a sneak attack."

"It would take them too long to travel all the way through the canyons to get behind us," Thad disagreed. "Plus, if the did have a separate party try to sneak up behind us, they would have no way of communicating with the head party to know when they should attack."

"We will also be on the higher ledges, so they wouldn't be able to sneak up on us in the first place," David added.

"But what if they get there first and set up an ambush in preparation?" Wes pushed. "It'd be easy for them to sneak up behind us then."

"We'll just have to go earlier to clear out any possible chance of an ambush," David decided.

Blaine couldn't help but smile as he watched the men argue. This was why they were his Council. Each of their unique thought processes helped to pinpoint all possible outcomes in situations, thus making sure that they would always come out on top. They were one of the main reasons why the Warblers had never been captured by the Law.

"He's been waiting," Blaine suddenly heard Trent say from his post by the door. Blaine turned just in time to see Jeff and Nick enter the tent with Kurt in between them. He subconsciously leaned back in the chair, as if to keep his presence from being discovered by the tall, thin boy. He watched as they came to a stop before the men positioned around the table, the only one noticing them being Wes, who just seemed to glare at Kurt, for reasons that Blaine couldn't fathom.

Oddly enough, Wes did not say anything or announce their arrival to David or Thad. He just stayed silent, coming to glare at Kurt. It was Thad who noticed next, who instantly greeted them.

"Oh, good, you're here," he said, stepping away from the table. Blaine watched as David turned around as well and looked at Kurt.

"Governor Hummel's son," he grinned. "So nice to formally meet you."

"How can we be _formally _introduced if you know my name but I don't know yours?" Blaine was taken aback by the defiant tone to Kurt's voice. It surprised him, but also intrigued him. The Kurt he had seen in the pit was nothing like the defiant figure that now stood before him. This Kurt felt stronger, more sure of himself. Brave.

"You've got spunk, kid," David just chuckled. "I'll give you that. Alright, well, then to properly introduce myself, I am David. And this is Thad," he motioned to the dark haired man beside him. "And I believe that you already know Wes."

"Yes, I do," Kurt retorted. "I wish could say that it's a pleasure to meet you all, but then I'd be lying." Blaine struggled to hold back his chuckle. He liked this Kurt!

"I'd watch your tongue if I were you," Thad snapped sharply. Blaine could see sparks of anger flashing in his eyes "And show a bit of respect."

"Respect?" Kurt scoffed. "Why should I respect any of you? You _kidnapped_ me and forced to me come who knows where, all so that you could fill your filthy, rotten pockets with gold! I am not some negotiating piece that you can use to get whatever you want! I am a _human being_ and _I_ deserve to be treated with respect! Not some low life criminals!"

A heavy weight dropped in Blaine's stomach. Was that really how he saw them? Sure, the Warblers were outlaws, but to be see as low lives… filth… scum of the earth… That wasn't what Blaine had wanted for them.

"Are you saying that _we _are not human then?" David growled, anger snapping through his voice as well. "That we do not deserve equal respect because we are forced to do what we must to survive? And you say that you are not treated with respect? Ungrateful brat! We could have left you in that pit, let your wounds become infected, but we didn't! Now how about you show some respect for that!"

David's sharp words caused Kurt to fall silent. Blaine wished that he could see his face, get some sort of gage on what Kurt was thinking, but from the angle he was sitting at, he couldn't. He was about to stand up to join the situation when the tent flap moved back and Trent stepped in.

"Sir, Sebastian has returned," he announced. It didn't escape Blaine's attention how Kurt stiffened at the mentioned of Bas' name. What had happened between them?

"Good," David smiled. "Send him in."

Trent nodded and moved back out side. And then there he was. Sebastian. He moved forward, passing by Kurt on his way to stand before the Council, and as he passed by him, Sebastian's eyes seemed to slide up and down Kurt's body, sparking an aggressive, protective feeling in Blaine. Kurt's uncomfortable body language seemed to fuel that feeling until Sebastian took his eyes off of Kurt to stop and tilt his head respectively to each of the three men of the Council.

"What news have you, Bas?" David asked, seemingly oblivious to Kurt's discomfort.

"Hummel has agreed to our terms," Sebastian announced. Blaine could literally feel some of the tension leave the room at this statement.

"But," Sebastian continued. "There was a slight... _complication_."

"Oh?" David tilted his head questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"Hummel broke his word," Sebastian replied with a slight smirk. It almost seemed like he was _enjoying_ this. "He sent someone to follow me, thought I wouldn't notice."

"And?" David said, gesturing for him to continue. Blaine didn't fail to notice the fact that David was struggling to control the anger in his voice.

"And I caught her," Sebastian continued. "It was easy. Once I hit one of the checkpoints, I signalled the guards there that I was being followed and we ambushed her. Simple as that."

"Her?" David raised a questioning eyebrow. "Hummel sent a woman to follow you?" Blaine was just as surprised at this discovery. Why would Hummel send a woman?

"I don't know why," Sebastian shrugged. "Maybe he thought I wouldn't suspect a woman of following me. But it's kind of hard not to notice when you're traveling through an area that _no one_ goes through."

"So what did you do with her?" David asked.

"I brought her back with me," Sebastian answered. "I thought that it was best if the Council dealt with her."

_For once, Sebastian, you've actually made a smart decision,_ Blaine smiled. Sebastian had a bad habit of wanting to take matters into his own hands, much like Wes did, but he had made the smarter decision in choosing to bring the girl to the Council.

"Good," David smiled. "Send for someone to bring her here."

"Already done," Sebastian said, nodding to one of the guards at the entrance. They pulled back the flaps and two of his men entered, dragging someone between them. Sebastian stepped towards them and grabbed a fistful of her long, dark hair, pulling her head back sharply. A muffled gasp slipped out from the girl, making Blaine cringe. What was he doing? Blaine wanted so badly to step out and tell Sebastian off, but something held him back, told him to wait. So he did.

"I warned Hummel about what would happen if he were to have me followed, but I guess that he doesn't care about his _son_ that much if he's willing to risk his safety like that," Sebastian grinned, casting a glance over at Kurt. "But since he broke his word, maybe instead of killing him, maybe you would be so kind as to let me take him." Blaine did not like how Sebastian was looking at Kurt. He did not like it at all.

"After all," Sebastian continued with a smirk. "Hummel broke his word, so why should we keep ours? Or, if you still want to trade him back, perhaps it would be okay now if he's a little more _roughed up_ than he was before. I would be-"

"That's _enough_, Sebastian!" Blaine didn't realize he had spoken until everyone was suddenly staring at him. All he remembered was being overwhelmed with a sudden desire to protect the pale skinned boy.

_Well, now that I've got everyone's attention… _Blaine stepped out from where he had been "hiding" and approached Sebastian.

"You are _never_ to touch him," he said sharply. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Sebastian replied, a bitter tone to his voice as he hung his head.

"Good," Blaine smiled, moving over to stand before Kurt. "Now though I agree that Hummel should learn not to cross us, I have a better idea of how to go about doing so." He turned to look up at David and gave him an apologetic smile.

_Next time, _Blaine silently promised him. _You can take charge next time. This one is all mine._ He wanted to look at Kurt so badly, but his mind was occupied with other things at the moment. Like trying to figure out what his "better idea" was. Luckily, Blaine was gifted with being able to think quickly on the spot.

"We will still meet Hummel at the trade off site, but we will have an extra surprise waiting there for him," Blaine announced, casting a glance over at Sebastian's prisoner. "Take her to the pit for now. Tomorrow, we will start our trek to the meeting spot. We wouldn't want to be late to meet the Governor, now would we?" He couldn't help the grin that flashed across his lips as a plan finally started to form in his mind, a plan that would involve them getting more than just gold.

"Now as for Hummel's son," he said, turning back to look at Kurt. "I believe that his wounds are still healing, so he will be returned to the infirmary until tomorrow. I want him to be rested up and ready to ride in the morning." He saw something flicker in Kurt's eyes, those beautiful eyes…

_Focus, Blaine!_ he scolded himself sharply.

"Early curfew tonight, boys," Blaine continued, forcing himself to turn away from Kurt and move up to the table, on the opposite side of David. "We've got an early morning tomorrow and I want you all to be rested up. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," all of the men in the room chorused together. Blaine smiled. It was moments like this that reminded him why he loved being the Boss.

"Dismissed," he nodded, waving them all away. He watched as Sebastian and his posse moved out of the tent before chancing a glance at Kurt. He was looking at Blaine with a wide-eyed, shocked expression, one that stayed on his face as Jeff and Nick slowly led him out of the tent, most certainly to take him back to the infirmary as he had ordered. Even after Kurt was gone from sight, he couldn't get that stare out of his mind. Why had Kurt looked so surprised?

_A mystery for another day, I suppose,_ he shrugged to himself as he turned back to face his Council.

"So, care to include us in on this plan of yours?" David inquired, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well," Blaine smiled. "I have an idea, but there are a few things that we'll need to get on our way…"


	13. Chapter 13

**_A/N: Hey guys... It's been awhile... again... But I'm afraid my inspirational juices were at a lack for a little while there after what happened. I still can't believe that it's real sometimes... Cory was such an amazing actor and person in general. He is going to be sorely missed :( My heart continually goes out to Lea, his family, and the entire Glee family. And huge hugs and love to all of you during this time. I hope that this chapter helps to make you smile at least a little bit :)_**

**_Thank you to all of you who love and support this story. I am continually flattered and humbled by your love and support of this story._**

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

Blaine could barely contain his excitement. It had been a while since their last ransom, and he always got an adrenaline rush during the exchange. There was the fear of getting caught, the excitement of getting away scot-free with a new pile of treasure, and the thrill of success. They had become a name to be known and feared. They had never been caught and they never planned to be.

And now Blaine was set to pull off the biggest move they'd ever made before. They were going to kill the Governor's son right before his eyes. They were going to show this arrogant man that he shouldn't mess with the Warblers. When the Warblers wanted something, they got it. And what they wanted now was to show Governor Hummel how big of a mistake he'd made in crossing them.

"Are they ready to go?" Blaine asked Jeff, referring to their two prisoners.

"Yes, Sir," Jeff nodded. "The girl is tied to Nick's horse and Kurt to mine. They have both been blindfolded, just as you asked."

"Good," Blaine nodded approvingly. "Once we get closer, they will both have to be gagged as well so that they don't give us away in case Hummel decided to be foolish again and set an ambush for us."

"The girl has already been gagged and just say the word and Kurt will be silenced as well."

A strange feeling churned in Blaine's stomach at Jeff's words. They sounded so foreboding to what was about to happen.

"Very good," Blaine nodded again, pushing the uncomfortable feeling away. "Be prepared to ride. We're leaving soon."

"Yes, Sir," Jeff saluted him before turning and moving away towards his horse, where Blaine could see his beautiful captive sitting. He couldn't help but sigh as guilt flooded through him. He regretted that he would have to put Kurt through this, but there was no other choice. He needed to do what had to be done.

He only hoped that Kurt would someday be able to forgive him for it.

* * *

Kurt was back in the uncomfortable saddle, his hands tied only slightly more comfortably to the saddle horn than they had been the last time he'd ridden on this horse. And the only thing worse than they ropes chaffing into his wrists was the cloth blinding his sight. He hated feeling this vulnerable, not being able to see anything.

The weight in the saddle suddenly shifted as another body slid in behind him. Kurt involuntarily tensed for a moment before he heard Jeff's familiar voice in his ear.

"Looks like we're all ready to go, Kurt," Jeff whispered to him. "You'll be back with your dad in no time."

"Will I really?" Kurt retorted sharper than he intended. "Because aren't you guys supposed to make my dad pay or something because he sent Tin- I mean, the tracker, after Sebastian?"

"Probably will just demand more money or the horses your dad brings," Jeff shrugged. Kurt couldn't see the movement, but he could feel it. "The Council are the ones to decide that stuff. I just get to do the fun stuff, like raiding and entertaining our prisoners."

"So do you entertain all of your prisoners so charmingly?" Kurt asked teasingly. Jeff made a flustered sounding noise and Kurt could only imagine that he must be blushing at the moment.

"Not all of my prisoners have been as interesting to talk to," Jeff admitted. "Usually they just yell and cry and spit in my face."

"Oh, trust me, I have considered doing that to some of you," Kurt replied, thinking of a certain curly haired man. He was still upset about how Blaine had tricked him like that. And then had turned out to be the Boss, of all people!

But then again, these were dangerous people that he was dealing with. Lying and trickery were every day habits for people like them.

"But," Kurt continued, trying to push his thoughts into lighter topics. "You have been nothing but nice to me since I met you, for some odd reason, and I can't bring myself to hate you, as much as I feel I should for doing this to me."

If his hands had been free, Kurt would have gestured to his helpless state, but the best he could do was tug on his bound wrists. Jeff didn't say anything for a while, almost making Kurt question whether or not he was still there, except for the fact that Kurt could physically feel him still sitting behind him.

"We really aren't as bad as you think we are," Jeff finally said softly. "Sometimes you have to do things that you would have previously never even considered doing, just to survive. It was really because of Blaine that we were even able to keep it together, to get ourselves back on our feet. That's why he's our leader."

_So his name actually is Blaine after all,_ Kurt thought with wonder. He had replayed his first interaction with the man over and over again, each time questioning if anything that had come out of his mouth was even true.

"I'm sorry, you probably don't care about our life stories," Jeff's voice suddenly pulled Kurt back out of his thoughts. "All you probably care about right now is getting back to your dad."

"Now who's judging who?" Kurt smirked.

"Touché," Jeff chuckled, the action vibrating across Kurt's back.

"Actually, there is something that I'd like to know," Kurt said hesitantly as the horse beneath them started forward.

"And what's that?" Jeff inquired.

"How did you and Nick meet?" Kurt asked.

"Ohhhh," Kurt could practically see the smile on Jeff's face. "Well, it happened like this..."

Jeff went on to tell Kurt a heroic tale in which he swooped in and saved Nick from a burning building. Nick later came by to correct the story, saying that it was Jeff who had been stuck in the burning building and Nick who had rescued him.

"Minor details," Jeff laughed, shrugging it off.

A few minutes later, they came to a stop, but Jeff informed Kurt that they weren't at the meeting place yet.

"Just stopping for a quick break," Jeff said almost too quickly. The quick break seemed to take longer than any normal stop, which made Kurt suspicious, but he just shrugged it off. He was probably just over thinking it.

After a few more hours of riding, Kurt felt the horse beneath him starting to slow down again.

"Jeff," Kurt heard Blaine's voice approach and he instantly stiffened. "It's time."

"Yes, Sir," Jeff replied, suddenly shifting in the saddle.

"Sorry about this, Kurt," Jeff whispered in his ear, just seconds before a thick, rough cloth was shoved into his mouth and tied securely around the back of his head.

"Mffph!" Kurt cried in protest. He hated having a gag in his mouth!

"I'm sorry, Kurt," Jeff sighed, patting his shoulder softly. "But we can't have you yelling and alerting any watchmen."

Kurt sighed heavily, slumping back down in defeat. When was this torture going to end?

The horse slowly began to move again, but then stopped again just a short while after. They stayed still for a long time, Jeff staying oddly quiet the entire time. When someone finally did speak again, it nearly startled Kurt.

"You were right, Sir," a voice Kurt didn't recognize said. "Hummel sent an ambush ahead of him."

"Foolish man!" Kurt heard Blaine curse uncomfortably close to him.

"But we're easily able to dispatch all of them," the voice continued.

"Good," Blaine replied. "Tell the men that we are going to go ahead with the plan. Hummel needs to learn a lesson for daring to cross us, not once but twice! Hummel will rue the day he ever thought to break a deal with the Warblers!"

Kurt was suddenly jolted forward as the horse suddenly started moving again and if he hadn't been tied on, Kurt was sure that he most certainly would have fallen off.

Kurt could hear the moment that they hit rock, changing from the soft sound of the sand beneath the horse's feet to the hard sound of a solid surface. And then the angle changed and they were suddenly going uphill.

And then they stopped.

"Time to get down, Kurt," Jeff announced, sliding off of the saddle. "We have to walk a little ways from here. It's too narrow for the horses."

Since he couldn't talk, all Kurt could do was nod to show that he understood. He felt Jeff untie his hands from the saddle and then he was gently helped down from the horse. But the second that his feet were securely on the ground, his hands were quickly tied again.

"Sorry, just taking precautions," Jeff told him, placing his hands on his shoulders. "Don't worry. I've got you though. I won't let you fall."

The words were meant to be encouraging but instead all they did was make Kurt nervous.

_Just how high up are we?_ he wondered. Every step that he took, he felt shaky, consistently worried that each step could be his last.

Finally, they came to a stop and Jeff gently helped Kurt sit down.

"And now we wait," Jeff said, sitting down beside him.

They sat in silence, the only sound was that of Jeff scratching, presumably, a stick against the ground. Kurt ached to ask what he was drawing or writing, but he was unable to.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, there was finally movement among them.

"They're here," a voice, it sounded almost like Thad, said.

"Show time," Blaine announced, a wickedly excitedly tone to his voice. "Is the girl in place?"

"Yes, Sir," Thad replied.

"Good," Blaine said happily. "Jeff, help Nick get Kurt ready to see his father." There was an undertone of something that Kurt didn't recognize, almost as if Blaine was subtly implying something.

"Yes, Sir," Jeff replied, standing up and helping Kurt stand up as well. They walked a few paces over to where Nick presumably was and then stopped.

"Sorry about this, Kurt," Nick said as something warm and soft touched his neck, making him instantly flinch against it. "This might feel a bit uncomfortable, but it needs to be done." The warm thing was carefully tied around Kurt's neck, much to his dismay, and then he was led back over to where he had been before.

"Not bad," Blaine chuckled lightly as they approached him. "The colour's a little off, but Hummel won't be able to tell from a distance. And speaking of Hummel..."

"Kurt!" the blindfolded boy nearly jumped at the sound of his father's voice.

"Dad!" he tried to yell as he struggled against the hands holding him, but all that came out was a muffled, "Mmmph!"

"Take him lower," Blaine ordered swiftly. "We can't let Hummel see him yet. And ready the archers."

_Archers?_ Kurt started to panic. Were they going to shoot his dad?

Kurt frantically began to struggle against the people trying to lead him away.

"Kurt, settle down!" Jeff hushed. "They're not going to shoot him! It's just to get his attention!"

Kurt relaxed only slightly at Jeff's words. Just the idea of arrows being anywhere near his father scared him.

Jeff led him further away than he had been taken before, presumably to be as far out of sight as possible. He was so far away that he could barely make out the words exchanged between his father and Blaine. And the fact that his blindfold half covered his ears didn't help much either.

It didn't take much time at all for Kurt to suddenly be led back over to Blaine, who instantly grabbed his bound hands and pulled him close to his side. Kurt felt slightly uncomfortable being this close to Blaine, but at the same time, he couldn't ignore how good Blaine smelled.

"Here he is, still alive and breathing!" Blaine suddenly said as his hand suddenly wrapped around the back of Kurt's neck, touching an area where the warm, soft thing had not covered. Kurt involuntarily flinched at Blaine's touch.

"Don't touch him!" Kurt heard his father yell from somewhere far below them.

"Where's the money, Hummel?" Blaine demanded, still holding the back of Kurt's neck.

"Here it is," Burt replied. "Now give me my son back!"

"You're in no position to be making demands," Blaine laughed. "Now put the sac in that bucket by the wall."

"No, give me my son first," Burt argued. Kurt couldn't help but smile at his father's words. He never was one to give in that easily.

"Again, you're in no position to be making demands," Blaine suddenly growled, apparently getting agitated with Burt. Blaine's hand suddenly tightened around Kurt's neck, making him cry out, though the sound was muffled slightly by the gag. There was a loud shuffling below them and suddenly Blaine loosened his grip.

"Now, was that so hard?" Kurt could almost hear the smirk in his voice. Something was suddenly brought up before them and Kurt could hear the clicking of coins as Blaine shifted beside him.

"There, you have your money," Burt called out. "Now give me back my son!"

"I am a man of my word," Blaine replied, suddenly shifting beside Kurt again. And then Kurt felt a pressure against the warm thing in front of his neck.

"What are you doing?!" Burt roared angrily, making Kurt wonder what exactly was being held against his throat.

"Like I said," Blaine chuckled. "I am a man of my word. I warned you of what would happen if Sebastian was followed. Foolish move, Governor. It cost you your son."

The pressure suddenly moved swiftly across the area before Kurt's throat and Kurt could feel something warm drip down his chest.

_Am I bleeding?!_ he panicked when suddenly Blaine's hand tightened a little too hard over one spot by his neck. He started to feel lightheaded and then his legs suddenly buckled beneath him.

The last thing Kurt remember was the heartbreaking scream of his father before he hit the ground and fell into complete and utter darkness.


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Only a few days late on getting this up! Better than what I have been! :p Anyways, I hope that you guys are enjoying this and I can't wait for you all to see what's in store for these guys! :P_

_(Also, quick __side note/question. Do any of you live in Ontario, Canada and happen to be going to the Owl City concert in London, ON next week? Cause if you are, let me know! I'd love to meet you!)_

_And now onto the next chapter! Enjoy! :)_

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

Kurt groggily opened his eyes, wincing slightly in pain as his body regained consciousness.

"Am I dead?" he wondered aloud. His head hurt. It felt like it was splitting in two.

"No, you're not dead," a familiar voice chuckled. Kurt blinked in surprise as he turned his head and found Jeff sitting beside him.

"You're still very much alive, my friend," he smiled.

"W-Where am I?" Kurt asked, wearily bringing his hand to his aching head. He gently touched the spot that hurt the most and winced.

"Careful, you've got a mighty scratch there," Jeff warned, gently easing Kurt's hand down away from his face. "It's best not to touch it. Don't want it to get infected or anything. And to answer your question, you're back at camp."

"Why?" Kurt sputtered, sitting up sharply. The action made spikes of pain shoot through his head.

"Whoa, Kurt," Jeff exclaimed with concern. "Easy there. Just lie back down now. You got a slight concussion when you fell."

"When I fell?" Kurt echoed, confused, as he laid back down.

"Kurt, don't you remember what happened?" Jeff asked cautiously. Kurt blinked, trying hard to recall his last memory.

And then it all came flooding back.

"_Dad!_" he cried out, sitting up again. He moved too quickly and suddenly the room was spinning around him, which combined with the already splitting ache in his head.

"Kurt, relax!" Jeff said sharply, forcing him to lie back down.

"What happened?" Kurt demanded frantically. "Where's my dad? If you hurt him-"

"We didn't touch your dad," another voice said. Kurt instantly bristled at the sound of it.

"_You!_" Kurt snarled, turning his attention on the man who was now standing at the entrance to the tent he was lying in. "Where is my father?!"

"Probably back in town by now," Blaine shrugged, unphased by Kurt's aggression. "Planning your funeral, I'd guess."

"My what?" Kurt gaped. "But I'm not dead!"

"No," Blaine smirked, moving further into the tent. "But he believes you are. That, my dear boy, is how we made Hummel pay. We warned him that we would kill you if he didn't follow our commands."

"But I'm not dead," Kurt pointed out warily.

"No, you're much too pretty to kill," Blaine grinned. "It would have been such a waste."

Kurt was silent for a moment before he spoke again.

"Why?" Kurt asked softly.

"Why what?" Blaine asked curiously.

"Why me?" Kurt asked, looking Blaine in the eye for the first time. Blaine was taken aback by the tears in Kurt's eyes. His heart clenched uncomfortably at the sight and he had the sudden urge to take Kurt in his arms, hold him tightly, and whisper that everything was going to be alright.

It took everything in him to resist that urge.

"I guess that you just got the short end of the stick," Blaine shrugged, suddenly moving back away towards the doors. "Jeff, tend to him. As soon as he's well enough to be moved, inform me immediately."

"Yes, Sir," Jeff nodded before Blaine swiftly left the tent, leaving Jeff alone with Kurt.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the few small sobs that escaped Kurt's lips.

"Kurt-" Jeff started to say after what felt like an eternity.

"Don't!" Kurt cut him off sharply. "Just, don't."

Kurt rolled over slightly, moving slowly as to not agitate his pounding head, so that his back was now facing Jeff.

Jeff sighed heavily as he stared at Kurt's back.

"I know that you don't want to hear this right now," Jeff started to say. "But I think that you'll really come to like this place. We're not the brutal, ruthless people that you think we are."

"Could have fooled me," Kurt muttered softly, making Jeff sigh again.

"Trust me, Kurt," Jeff said softly. "Give it time. It will get better."

"How?" Kurt scoffed. "My father believes that I'm dead, I'm going to be trapped here forever by perverts led by a psychotic man who's nothing but a liar and a thief, and I'm never going to see my friends or family ever again! How in the world do you ever think that it's going to get better?!"

Jeff didn't reply. He couldn't. He didn't know how to.

They were silent again for a while until Kurt spoke up again, this time in a softer voice.

"How did you do it?" he asked quietly.

"Do what?" Jeff asked, inching closer to hear him better.

"How did you make my dad believe that I was dead?" Kurt replied softly, slowly turning back over so that he was looking at Jeff again. He spoke almost hesitantly, like as if he didn't really want to know the answer.

"That stop we made?" Jeff sighed, avoiding contact with Kurt's eyes. "I lied about why we stopped. We stopped to hunt a deer. They made a pouch from its skin and filled it with its blood. Then we tied that around your neck."

Kurt winced at the memory of the soft thing being tied around his neck. At least he knew what it had been now.

"The colour matched your skin pretty good, considering how pale you are," Jeff continued. "So then all Blaine had to do was slit the pouch, making it look like it was your blood being spilt, while simultaneously squeezing a pressure point to make you faint. And thus, you died before everyone's eyes."

Jeff paused for a minute and let out a weary sigh.

"Unfortunately, you fell kind of funny and hit your head on the ground," Jeff admitted. "That's why your head hurts so much. That wasn't supposed to happen. We just didn't realize how fragile you were."

"I'm not weak," Kurt retorted sharply.

"I never said weak," Jeff objected. "I said fragile. Those are two very different things."

"Whatever," Kurt huffed, falling into silence again.

"Jeff?" he said quietly after a minute.

"Yeah, Kurt?" Jeff replied.

"What are you going to do with me?" Kurt asked hesitantly. "Now that everyone thinks I'm dead, no one will be looking for me, trying to make an exchange to get me back. So what use do you have for keeping me?"

"We're not going to kill you, Kurt," Jeff replied instantly, knowing where Kurt's thoughts were going. "And honestly? I don't really know. Blaine's the Boss. He'll be the one to decide."

Kurt involuntarily shivered at the thought of that beautiful monster having control over his fate.

Wait, beautiful? Where did that come from?

"If you want my guess though?" Jeff continued on. "I'd say that you'd probably become a part of the camp life here."

"Wait, so you're saying that I'd become one of you?" Kurt said in alarm.

"I guess so," Jeff chuckled lightly. "Welcome to the Warblers, Kurt."

* * *

Blaine was a mess. How could a pair of tear-filled eyes make him this weak at the knees? How could those beautiful, glistening orbs make his insides melt like that? How could that beautiful man make him feel like-

_Stop it!_ Blaine scolded himself sharply. _You can't think about him like that! He's your prisoner! Not to mention he hates your guts!_

"Umm, Blaine?" Nick's voice broke him from his internal scolding.

"What?" Blaine demanded more sharply than he intended as he turned to face his friend.

"The boys are wondering what the plan is," Nick said. "About the Hummel boy, I mean. What are we going to do with him?"

"We're not going to kill him, for one," Blaine replied. "And no, he is not a play thing. Make sure that Bas gets that through his head."

"Then what are we doing with him?" Nick asked.

"I don't know," Blaine sighed, running his fingers back through his curly, unruly hair. "I just couldn't let him slip through my fingers."

"Sounds to me like Jeff was right," Nick chuckled. "Someone's got a little crush on the captive."

"No, I don't!" Blaine objected quickly.

"Tell me, Blaine," Nick smirked. "Do you get butterflies in your stomach when you look at him? Does your heart skip a beat? Do your legs feel like jelly?"

_Yes. Yes. And yes,_ Blaine grumbled to himself.

"I'll take it by that look that you answered yes to all of those," Nick laughed. "So I think I've got my answer right there."

He paused for a moment and placed a comforting hand on Blaine's shoulder.

"It's okay to fall in love again, Blaine," Nick said softly. "Even if it's with a prisoner. You've been so lonely since Jason-"

"Please," Blaine croaked softly, his throat tightening. "Please don't."

"Blaine, I know it's hard, but you need to move on," Nick sighed. "It's been _two years_! What happened wasn't your fault. You need to accept that and allow yourself to move on and love again."

"I don't know if I can," Blaine whispered.

"I know you can," Nick smiled. "Let yourself fall for the Hummel kid. It sounds like he's going to be around for a while." Nick gave him a playful wink and a solid pat on the back before turning away.

"I'm going with the next group to hunt," he said. "Do you want to come with? It'll get your mind off of things."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Blaine shrugged. "I don't know if I can look at a deer's blood the same way now." The slight smirk on his lips didn't escape Nick's eyes.

"That was a smart idea," Nick grinned. "Using the deer's blood like that. Hummel was none the wiser."

"That was the point," Blaine replied. "If Hummel believes that his son is dead, then he won't come looking for him."

"I guess that brings me back to my first question again," Nick said. "What are we going to do with him?"

"Well, I guess if he's here to stay, then we're going to have to get him used to living in the wild," Blaine grinned. "We'll start him with a few basic chores and then work his way up from there. We'll have to station someone with him to make sure that he doesn't try to run, but maybe there'll come a point when he won't want to run anymore."

"Someone's a dreamer," Nick chuckled.

"You never know," Blaine shrugged. "Maybe he'll find a reason to want to stay. I mean, this place isn't that hard to fall in love with."

Blaine smiled as he looked out at the camp in front of him. This place was home.

"The place or the people?" Nick chuckled. "Or maybe just one person in particular..."

"You can shut it now," Blaine chuckled, lightly shoving his friend.

"And Nick is right again!" Nick grinned triumphantly.

"Don't you have a hunt that you're supposed to go to?" Blaine said.

"Oh! Right!" Nick exclaimed, quickly turning and dashing off. "See you later, Blaine!"

Blaine smiled as he watched his friend run off before turning and retiring to his tent. He could use a little nap...

* * *

A few feet away, a pair of eyes had watched their interaction with intrigue.

"So Blaine likes the Hummel boy, huh?" Sebastian growled to himself. "Why is it that Blaine can have whatever he wants, but I'm forbidden from the few things I want?"

Sebastian pouted as he watched the two men depart from each other.

"Someday," Sebastian vowed. "Someday, I will get whatever I want. Someday, I will rule this camp. And then Hummel is all _mine_."


	15. Chapter 15

**_A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay. It's been a pretty crazy past couple of weeks for me and I haven't had much free time for writing. I'm off to school in less than 2 weeks, which means my life is about to get even more psychotically busy, but I will try to get you guys updates as often as I possibly can. _**

**_Thank you to everyone who continues to read and love this story :) It's been a really fun one to write and I have a lot more in store for it! I have been planning ahead though for what kind of story to write after this one is finished, but I'd love to hear from you guys. If there is a certain type of Klaine AU story that you'd like to see from me, please let me know. I've been thinking about Soulmate ones, Slave fics, a dance related one, or a Disney/Movie parody. Let me know your thoughts! They matter to me! :)_****_  
_**

**_And now, without further ado, please enjoy this next chapter! :)_**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

As soon as he was feeling well enough, Kurt was put right to work. They started him on wood collection, under the watchful eye of Jeff. Blaine figured that Kurt wouldn't try running off under Jeff's watch, as Jeff had told him how sorry Kurt had felt about Jeff's punishment.

Wes had argued against this, stating that Kurt could not be trusted and should be kept under tighter watch, perhaps have his legs manacled so that he literally couldn't run away. Blaine had instantly brushed off the idea, claiming that it would be harder for Kurt to work that way. And if they were to incorporate Kurt into their lives, then they would have to learn to trust him at some point.

They were finally able to come to some sort of compromise, in which Kurt would be shackled at night, for safety's sake.

"Can't have him slitting our throats in our sleep," Wes grumbled as the meeting was adjourned. Blaine just shook his head sadly at Wes' departing figure. When had he become such an angry man?

Blaine left the meeting tent, trying to shake off any worries about Wes. He was probably just still mad because of his punishment. He'd get over it eventually. And hopefully, someday, he'd come to accept Kurt into their group.

Blaine closed his eyes and tipped his head back, smiling as the soft sunlight trickled through the canopy of trees above his head and fell onto his face. He breathed in deeply, letting the fresh, cool air fill him as he emptied his mind. Once he felt relaxed and stress-free, he slowly opened his eyes.

He was surprised to find Sebastian staring at him.

"What?" he asked sharply, uncomfortable with the look those green eyes were giving him.

"Is it true?" Sebastian asked.

"Is what true?" Blaine huffed, not wanting to play this game with him.

"That we're keeping him," Sebastian replied, crossing his arms over his chest challengingly.

"Yes, he is staying," Blaine replied calmly. "But he is _not_ a play thing for you to have fun with."

"Right, he's off limits because _you_ want him," Sebastian scoffed mockingly, making Blaine tense up.

"That is not true, Sebastian," Blaine snapped. "He is one of us now. Not a prisoner that you can use and abuse. If he tells you no, then you cannot touch him. If, heavens knows why he would, he says yes to you, well then that is between the two of you. Otherwise," He stepped really close to Sebastian and lowered his voice menacingly. "Stay. A. Way."

He quickly stepped back and smiled.

"Have I made myself clear?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course," Sebastian grimaced. "Whatever you say, _Boss_."

With that, Sebastian turned and left, leaving Blaine feeling irritated and stressed.

_I was in such a good mood,_ Blaine grumbled to himself. _Why did Sebastian have to go and ruin that?_

Without meaning to, Blaine found himself wandering out of the camp. He needed some time alone to think.

* * *

Kurt was tired, his head still hurt slightly due to the cut on his forehead, and now his back was starting to hurt again from constantly bending down to pick up wood.

He paused for a second to wipe the sweat from his brow as he glanced over at Jeff, who was nearby. The blond wasn't even paying attention to him. It would be _so easy_ just to quickly slip away into the forest.

But then the image of Jeff being strung from a tree, Wes relentlessly whipping his back, flashed through his head and the instinct to run was instantly crushed. He could not do that to Jeff. Not again.

_Maybe if they stationed someone I didn't know with me, then I wouldn't feel as bad about it,_ Kurt thought. _Ah, who am I kidding? I still wouldn't be able to do that to someone... Unless it was Sebastian. I wouldn't feel bad about him getting whipped... But then at the same time, I wouldn't want to be left alone with him in the first place…_

He shuddered at the thought of being alone with the man. Who knew what Sebastian was capable of doing to him. All Kurt had to do was remember that hungry look in Sebastian's eye to feel sick.

"Hey, Kurt?" Jeff called out to him. Kurt blinked away his uncomfortable thoughts and smiled at the blond who was approaching him.

"What do you say we take this load back to camp and then we can go freshen ourselves up a bit?" Jeff suggested. "I'm sure that you'd love to wash all that grime off of you. And being such a city boy, I'm sure that you've been struggling with not washing properly in however many days it's been now."

"Seven," Kurt replied seriously, making Jeff's frown fade for a second.

"Exactly!" he recovered quickly, the smile returning to his lips. "So I'm sure that you'd probably appreciate a chance to bathe, am I right?"

"Yes," Kurt allowed a small smile to grace his lips. "Yes, that would actually be really nice. Thanks."

"No problem," Jeff beamed. "We'll just take this wood back and grabbed a couple towels and we'll be good to go."

"Go?" Kurt echoed as he followed Jeff back towards the camp. "Go where exactly?"

"Oh, you'll see," Jeff just grinned. Kurt frowned slightly, but didn't ask anymore questions. In all of the camp, Jeff was the only one that he actually trusted, so he put that trust to use now as he silently followed the man into the camp and quickly disposed of their burdens.

Jeff had Kurt wait under the watchful eye of a bandit that he hadn't yet learned the name of as he went to go get their towels.

"So," Kurt said after a few minutes of silence. "What's your name?"

The man looked at Kurt with surprise, raising an eyebrow at him curiously.

"Flint," he finally replied.

"It's nice to meet you, Flint," Kurt gave him a small smile. "I'm Kurt."

"I know," was all Flint said. Apparently he wasn't much of a talker.

Luckily, Jeff returned not much longer after, relieving Kurt of the awkward silence between him and the other bandit.

"Ok, let's go!" Jeff grinned as he collected Kurt and began to lead him back out into the forest.

"So how far exactly are the showers?" Kurt asked after they'd been walking for a few minutes. He could understand them being away from the camp a bit for privacy's sake, but to be this far away seemed a little odd.

"Showers?" Jeff echoed in surprise, raising his eyebrows. "We don't have showers here."

"Then how do you bathe?" Kurt asked, confused. "Do you have a bathhouse or something?"

"Oh, Kurt," Jeff chuckled, his eyes lighting up with amusement. "You have so much to learn about how we live out here. No, we don't have a bathhouse. We have these."

Jeff suddenly moved the branches in front of him to reveal a gently flowing river. Kurt's eyes widened in alarm. He had to bathe in a _river_?!

"Oh, no," Kurt objected, crossing his arms. "I am not bathing in that!"

"It's this or nothing," Jeff shrugged, moving through the brush towards the river. Kurt reluctantly followed him, though still very put off.

"Oh, come on, Kurt!" Jeff giggled, pulling off his shirt. "It's not that bad!"

Kurt felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight of Jeff's bare skin. His body was so tanned and toned, it made Kurt weak at the knee to see someone so beautiful.

"Hello, earth to Kurt!" Jeff chuckled, snapping Kurt out of his obvious gaze. Kurt blinked with surprise, his cheeks turning a bright pink with embarrassment.

"I'm guessing that you don't see a lot of shirtless guys where you're from?" Jeff teased.

"No," Kurt replied, shaking his head. "Once I was old enough, I moved to the city and guys tend to keep their shirts on there."

"And their pants too?" Jeff asked, suddenly taking off his pants. Kurt's eyes widened in alarm as he found an almost naked Jeff now standing in front of him.

"I, uh, well, I-" Kurt sputtered, looking everywhere but at Jeff.

"Oh, relax, Kurt," he chuckled. "You're going to have to get used to this at some point, as well as bathing in rivers."

As if to prove his point, Jeff suddenly turned and waded off into the river. He didn't react in any way that would make it seem as if the water was that cold, so Kurt reluctantly began to shed some of his clothes.

"Don't look!" Kurt ordered Jeff, who just chuckled as he turned around slightly. Now that no one was watching him, Kurt slowly began to remove his clothes.

First his horribly tattered and dirty shirt, since they had yet to give him a fresh one (he'd have to ask Jeff about getting some new clothes), and then, very reluctantly, he removed his pants.

Hugging his arms protectively around him, Kurt slowly stepped into the water.

"Mother of-" Kurt swore as his foot touched the cold water. "How can you possibly bathe in this?!"

"You'll get used to it," Jeff promised, chuckling slightly. "You just have to push yourself for the first little while. Here, maybe this will help."

Jeff suddenly splashed some water at Kurt, making him squeal in surprise.

"Jeff!" he exclaimed unhappily.

"What?" Jeff replied innocently.

"Oh, you're dead!" Kurt growled, making his way as quickly, yet slowly, as possible towards Jeff. He sent a wave of water splashing towards Jeff, who just took it with a cheerful laugh.

"That doesn't bother me, Kurt!" Jeff teased. "I'm already wet!"

"But you're hair isn't," Kurt pointed out. Jeff's eyes widened in alarm.

"You wouldn't..." Jeff pleaded.

"Watch me!" Kurt grinned, suddenly leaping towards him. He grabbed Jeff and pushed him down under the water. When Jeff came back up, sputtering for air, his bright blond hair was now soaking wet.

"Kurt!" Jeff exclaimed unhappily. "Do you know how long it takes for my hair to dry?!"

"No?" Kurt replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Probably as long as yours will!" Jeff declared, suddenly leaping towards Kurt and pushing him under the water.

Kurt did not surface right away, instead choosing to pause and open his eyes under the water. The water blurred his vision, but yet somehow he still found the site breathtaking.

Literally.

Kurt quickly pulled himself back up to the surface, gasping heavily for breath.

"Are you alright, Kurt?" Jeff asked, a worried tone to his voice. "I thought that I was going to have to come down there and save you."

"I'm fine," Kurt nodded once he regained the ability to breathe normally. "Just underestimated how long I could hold my breath."

"I've done that before," Jeff joked, making Kurt smile. "Just make sure that you don't do that out too deep or else I may not be able to save you. The current gets really strong in the middle of the river and can sweep your feet right out from under you! We've actually lost some people that way."

"Really?" Kurt's eyes widened with surprise.

"Yep," Jeff nodded. "Being out here in the wild is a lot more dangerous than in that city of yours."

Kurt could tell that Jeff was teasing him, but he still felt slightly unnerved by how easily he could be swept away by the river.

"We should probably wash up before our bodies go completely numb, eh?" Jeff grinned, suddenly swimming over to the shore and grabbing something from his pile of clothes. He returned a moment later and handed the object to Kurt. It was a bar of soap.

"How did you-" Kurt started, taking the soap from Jeff.

"We pick stuff like this up on our raids," Jeff shrugged. "It's easier for them to get some more than it is for us to. Plus, it feels good to be _really_ clean once and a while."

Kurt wasn't entirely sure if Jeff was joking or not about that comment, but he just shrugged it off, thankful to just have the soap now.

He gently eased his head back into the water and scrubbed the soap into his hair. It felt so nice to rinse out his hair, which was full of dust and grime, not to mention dried up, crusted blood.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Jeff grinned, washing himself with his own bar of soap. "Definitely reminds me of the good old days..."

Kurt looked over at Jeff in surprise.

_Well, I guess he wouldn't have always been a bandit,_ Kurt surmised. _He must have lived like a normal person at some point in his life..._

Kurt was curious to ask Jeff about how he had come to be a Warbler, but he wasn't sure if they were actually close enough for Jeff to share something like that with him.

"I know what you're thinking," Jeff said quietly, surprising Kurt. "And it's not my story to tell. If you want that story, I'd ask Blaine. It's only because of him that I'm able to be here. That I'm still alive."

Kurt blinked in surprise at Jeff's honest response, but it did nothing to satisfy his curiosity. If anything, if made his curiousity stronger.

_But there is no way that I could ever ask Blaine about that!_ Kurt frowned. _I can't even stand being in the same breathing space as him!_

Little did Kurt know that Blaine was actually closer at that moment than he thought.

He had stumbled upon them by accident. He had just been wandering through the forest, lost in thought, when he heard Jeff laughing. Curious, he followed the sound towards the river.

_Maybe I'll join Jeff for a while,_ Blaine thought with a smile. _A nice swim could help take my mind off of things. _

But before he could pass through the brush to the riverbank, he heard another voice. _Kurt's_ voice.

Blaine cautiously peeked through the branches and saw Jeff and Kurt swimming in the river. This particular river was deep enough that you could swim and bathe comfortably in it, but it was also deep enough that you could be caught in an undertow and dragged off down the river if you weren't careful.

Blaine watched the two boys for a few more minutes until Jeff suddenly started making his way towards the shore. Blaine quickly moved back, out of sight, so that he would not be caught spying on them. But just before the branches completely concealed his sight again, he saw Jeff's bare chest. Which made him realize that Kurt would be shirtless like that too.

_I wonder what he looks like without his shirt on..._ Blaine smiled to himself. He had only ever seen Kurt's bare back before, which, though still marred with whip marks, was still beautiful. He couldn't wait to see what Kurt's chest looked like, how toned he might be.

Unable to withhold his curiosity, Blaine quickly made his way a little further up the river before emerging onto the bank again. He was on a slight incline, so he was higher up than the two men below him, which hopefully meant that they wouldn't see him. But it also meant that he couldn't really hear what they were saying.

_It's probably for the best,_ Blaine sighed._ Kurt could be bashing me right now and I don't think that's something that I'd really like to hear. Speaking of Kurt though... _

Blaine turned his attention back down on the pale boy. His skin was so white, it almost made it seem like he might be sick.

_Maybe if he spends more time in the sun, he'll get some more colour to his skin,_ Blaine thought with a smile. _He'd look nice with tanned skin. _

Blaine glanced down at his already heavily tanned skin, the results of spending years living in the wild. How long would it be until Kurt had a tan like this? Would he even be with them that long?

_I hope so,_ Blaine silently prayed. Now that they actually had Kurt, with no threat of anyone really looking for him now, Blaine never wanted to let him go.

As if he could sense that Blaine was thinking about him, Kurt suddenly looked up and locked eyes with Blaine. It felt as if time had frozen as they just stared at each other, until, finally, Kurt's eyes narrowed in disgust and he turned his head away. Blaine couldn't even describe how painful that action was, how much it hurt Blaine.

_Will he ever trust me?_ Blaine wondered sadly.

It seemed as if Kurt had alerted Jeff to their watcher as Jeff was now waving up at him. Blaine gave him a friendly wave in return, only to find himself being beckoned down to them. Blaine cast a hesitant look at Kurt, who purposefully would not look at him, before making his slow trek down the riverbank towards them.

"Hey, Blaine!" Jeff greeted him with a warm smile. "What brings you out here?"

"Just wanted some place quiet to think," Blaine replied honestly with a shrug. His calm reaction got a quick, confused glance from Kurt before he returned to ignoring the Warbler leader.

"Do you mind watching Kurt for a few minutes?" Jeff asked, making Kurt look up in surprise, a look of displeasure and objection crossing his face.

"I have to get him some fresh clothes," Jeff continued, surprisingly stopping Kurt from saying anything.

_I guess getting fresh clothes is more worth it than not having to put up with me, _Blaine grinned. _It's a start, at least._

"Sure, Jeff," Blaine nodded. "See if you can find him a few different things in his size. I'm sure he'd probably appreciate the variety."

"I was thinking the same thing," Jeff chuckled. "Kurt, you may want to sit out in the sun and dry off a bit while I'm gone."

While Jeff had come out of the water to meet Blaine, Kurt had remained in the water, letting the flowing liquid cover him from the neck down. At Jeff's suggestion, Kurt slowly raised himself out of the water and moved towards the shore, wrapping his arms around himself self consciously. Blaine smiled at his shyness.

Kurt hurried towards them and took the offered towel from Jeff, quickly wrapping it around himself. But he was not quick enough to keep Blaine from catching sight of the slight tone to his body.

_Not a lot of muscle,_ Blaine noted to himself. _But we can work on that._

"Alright, well, I'll be back as soon as I can," Jeff told both of them. Kurt just nodded briskly before turning his back on them and sitting on a large, dry rock. Blaine rolled his eyes and sighed at Kurt's action.

"Hurry back," Blaine whispered to Jeff. He wasn't sure how long Kurt would be able to stand being alone with him. He may not run off when Jeff was watching him, but while under Blaine's watch, he could potentially do anything.

Jeff cast a quick glance over at Kurt, catching the subtle meaning behind Blaine's words, and nodded.

"I'll be as quick as a bunny!" he announced as he dashed off through the trees. Blaine sighed as he watched him go, before turning back to look at Kurt. He was still sitting with his back to Blaine.

Blaine eased himself down on a rock near Kurt, trying not to notice how Kurt shifted himself slightly more away. They sat in an awkward silence for a long time.

Blaine felt like he should say something. Maybe apologize? But for what? For tricking Kurt? For kidnapping him? For making his father believe that he was dead?

_I guess there really are a lot of reasons for him to hate me, _Blaine sighed unhappily. _But I guess I should at least start somewhere. _

"Kurt, I-" he started to say.

"Save it!" Kurt snapped, suddenly standing up and turning around to face Blaine. "I don't care what you have to say and I don't want to hear it. Just leave me alone."

Blaine blinked in surprise at Kurt's sudden anger. He'd known that Kurt was mad, but not this mad.

"But-" he tried again, but was quickly cut off.

"Don't," Kurt said, suddenly turning away and moving back towards the water. "I'm going for another swim."

He quickly shed his towel and dove back under the water, leaving Blaine alone with his thoughts.

Had he really hurt Kurt that much that he wouldn't even give Blaine a chance to redeem himself? Kurt seemed to accept Jeff, though he had been one of the people to actually kidnap him. Why was Blaine so much harder to forgive?

Blaine sighed as he watched the bubbles of where Kurt had gone under. If only he'd give Blaine a chance, maybe then he'd actually come to like being around him.

Blaine watched the spot for a few more seconds before an uncomfortable feeling churned in his stomach.

Why hadn't Kurt come back up yet?

Blaine stood up, trying to look down into the water to see if he could see Kurt. He couldn't see anything.

_Kurt wouldn't have tried to escape, would he? _Blaine panicked slightly. It wasn't so much the escaping that had Blaine worried. It was Kurt being off alone. There were a lot of dangers here, things far worse than Blaine or any of the Warblers, even Sebastian.

"Kurt?" he called out, ignoring the slightly desperate tone to his voice.

No answer. But why would he reply? He hated Blaine.

_He couldn't have gotten to the other side of the river without me noticing,_ Blaine quickly deducted. _Unless..._

Blaine's eyes widened with fear as they instantly drifted towards the middle of the river where the current was the strongest. His eyes desperately searched the flowing water for a sign, any sign at all, of Kurt. He was about to give up when his eyes suddenly caught sight of a blurry, dark form deep under the water a little ways up the river.

Without a second thought, Blaine tore off his shirt and dove into the water, his mind locked on one thing and one thing only.

Kurt.


End file.
